Red vs Blue Season 16
by Monty Mason
Summary: With the Blood Gulch crew separated, they must adapt to their surroundings and explore the various horrors taking place. In this tale of hate, a war is about to take place that will consume all and leave nothing behind unless it can be stopped. - Not an adaption of the official season. Rated M for mature language and content. -
1. Prologue

**A/N: Hello old readers and new comers alike. If you are a new reader and tuning in for the first time, consider reading my Red vs. Blue "Season 14" & "Season 15" fanfics to help give you an idea of what is happening. This one is a direct continuation of the story I started with the two previous fanfics and is meant to be the final one in this trilogy. This will also be the only author's note you see until the very end, UNLESS there is an issue that requires me to publicly address it via an author's note.**

 **I hope you enjoy this and also hopefully find some of my writing differences versus that of Miles to be pleasant in terms of our differing outlook on good versus evil (based on what we have gotten from Miles in the Chorus Trilogy).**

 **There will also be some VERY mature themes and actions taking place, not something usually seen in the RvB show, but since this is a fanfic on which I have complete creative control, I have the power to do so :). So read Season 14 and 15 fanfics first, they will also help you ease into these mature themes.**

 **My posting schedule will also be potentially erratic for this one as I have so many mangas and animes backlogged that I need to catch up on. Plus, life happens every day as well so yeah. I do intend on finishing this trilogy, for that the long time readers have my word on. I hope you enjoy the ride.**

 **Disclaimer: Red vs. Blue is the intellectual property of Rooster Teeth. I only take credit for the story line and any new characters introduced, the main characters belong to Rooster Teeth as well as any other IP holder.**

 **For future consideration when Rooster Teeth releases the official season. This is not meant to be an adaption of it.**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

 **Prologue**

Two soldiers sat comfortably on leather seats inside of a research facility. From out the window they saw a large alien tower and one of their own battle ships that hovered close to it. The ship's noises were hardly audible, almost as though it was non-existent, and yet their eyes could still see it. Therefore it must exist. As one of the soldiers sipped their drink, the other turned to look at a hazy camera feedback. It was an improvement from the previous static screen.

"Looks like they are starting," said the soldier watching the camera monitors. The other soldier turned to find the researcher adjusting the camera's zoom. His close-up face was an unwelcomed view as both of them were left wondering the same thing. _Why can't the research team have more hot chicks on it or something?_

In the background of the hazy image, they could see a man standing in his armor that was different from the rest. The helmet was retracted and the head attached to the armor's body was none other than Equal's. His eyes were half open in a sense of peace and boredom. He let out a long sigh and eyed the researcher to his right who was still fiddling with the camera. "Can we hurry this up?"

"Ah yes, of course sir," the researcher frantically replied getting the perfect settings inputted on the observation camera. He backed away with his hands nervously attached together. He looked behind him and pointed back to the tower. "Welcome all viewers alike, my name is Dr. Dane and I will be one of the researchers on this experiment we are about to conduct. Behind me you can probably see a huge tower, unlike anything mankind would be able to produce. Its inner workings are a mystery, truly worthy of the hundreds of minds we have needed so far to slowly, but surely help decode it."

"Ah-hem," Equal cleared his throat. That was a warning. The researcher shook in his boots in this man's presence. He quickly walked over to the panel nearest to his left and began to input some sequences of codes. _If they didn't waste so much time on these nonsensical theatrics of theirs, we would have better results by now_ , thought Equal extremely agitated to have his precious time be eaten like this.

The researcher finished inputting the last of the codes and motioned for Equal to walk over to a panel that slowly uncovered itself from the floor panel beneath them. "If you will do the honors please sir."

Equal unhinged the sword attached to his right leg and looked at it momentarily lost in thought. He gripped it tightly and nearly felt overwhelmed by emotions. He shook them off rather quickly and activated the sword. He inserted it into a holographic display that popped up atop the newly arisen control panel. He held out the sword and slowly inserted it into the display. The display blinked from the light blue color it once was to that of bright green. The tower was unlocked and activated.

A bright light shot up into the sky piercing through the dark thunderous clouds. It created a hole into the grey dull clouds revealing the bright blue sky up above. Equal activated his communication module and spoke directly to the ship's captain. "You have your signal to go ahead captain. May luck see it fit to have you come out the other end safely."

"Yes sir, everything that we do is for the betterment of the New Order!" said the captain before moving the ship forward. Both aboard the ship and in the research facility, everyone felt the anxiety. Their chances of success were not exactly optimistic considering the numerous failures before them. As the ship slowly propelled forward, they all closed their eyes and wished the crew best of luck.

In the moment the ship began to cross over to the other side through the light, the captain's eyes shed a single tear. Was he not ready to give up his life for this mission just as he had proclaimed moments before? Or perhaps this was because in his mind the ship seemed to grow wings and fly through this beam of light like their last angelic hope.

* * *

Equal contacted Justice on another frequency, she was on standby near another alien tower. As instructed, she activated her tower as well, the one with the ability to communicate long range, more so than the normal radios. She sees the lights slowly light up and the tower AI appear before her. Instructing the AI, she waits for a successful link to establish.

The researcher turned to the camera to make a few more verbal notes and saw the ship halfway through the light now. Equal crossed his arms waiting for a confirmation from Justice. Just as he was about to contact her for her status, she reported back first. "The link is established, we should be able to communicate with them for now via the special frequencies."

 _I hope for everyone's sake, that is also the case in a few minutes_ , thought Equal. The crew aboard the ship all closed their eyes tightly. Back home, they all left a letter to their families, an act of insurance in the event this failed as well. They all shed tears together. Death was a fear that seemed to be universally shared amongst every sentient being.

The ship vanished completely into the light. All they could hear was static on the line they established. The researcher frantically worked to try and get some sort of favorable feedback. "Hello, can anyone hear me? I repeat, can anyone hear me?!"

Twenty more minutes of trying, and the researcher was quickly becoming discouraged. Not only in fear of their losses, but also for fear of what may happen to him should this trial end in failure as well. He froze up in his spot. He went completely silent and bit his bottom lip. Equal looked at the shaken man and heard the persistent static. The researcher with his head down started to turn his head like a rusty gear towards Equal. "Sir I'm sorry, but-"

"Another failure," Equal finished as he looked down in disappointment. _How many more of our people must we send through that god forsaken light before we get resu-_ , Equal's eyes widened at the new sound that invaded his ears. He slowly turned to look at the radio communicator and heard the voice of the captain. Pushing past the researcher he leaned in close to make out what the leader of the brave crew was saying.

"Sir…made it…safely…"

"Captain, can you hear me?" Equal questioned calmly, doing his best to keep his excitement from getting in the way. After a few more minutes of static, the communication cleared up. "Yes sir, we have all made it safely to the other side. Thank the heavens that there were no casualties."

"Casualties? What happened?"

"We came out into an asteroid field when we exited the portal. We are currently trying to get the whereabouts of our position."

"Good," said Equal leaning backwards. He looked at the researcher and motioned for him to come close. "Take over communications, remains in contact with them every five minutes. Make sure we get them back safe and sound."

"Yes sir."

* * *

Equal re-activated the communication line to Justice's position and spoke. "The experiment, it seems was a success. The new chemical protective wax coating as theorized has worked against the aggressive properties of the portal."

"Awesome!" Truth exclaimed from behind Justice who was annoyed at his sudden rise in excitement. Equal smirked finding his friend's enthusiasm to be much welcomed in these dark times for him. "Truth, I need you to help speed up construction of our battle fleet. We are nearing completion, the sooner the better."

"Hold on boss, what about the space station?" Truth asked on the other end. Equal rubbed his chin in thought. "As it stands, we simply don't have enough resources on this planet to dedicate to both the reconstruction of the station and the battle fleet. On top of that, we have to keep resource management tight right now, especially to help keep the active sectors going. With the ability to travel around anywhere in the universe, and our advanced technology to warp back here over time, we can gather resources from other planets to put to use for ourselves. It is also an opportunity to grow the _civilians_ of our planet."

"Smart thinking, no wonder you are the head honcho," Truth joked with a wide grin. Justice elbowed him in the chest causing him some grief. She shot a stern glare his way. "Show some respect."

"I'm showing respect," he shot back rubbing his chest. "Jeez, what's your problem? And you used your metal prosthetic arm to boot."

Justice turned back to Equal's image and asked. "What of the Simulation troopers that infiltrated our station once. We know that they are not dead from the footage we studied post-incident. They could be an issue."

"Focus on the tasks you are given Justice, they are not your concern."

"Oh rejected," Truth grinned from behind her only to be punched somewhere most uncomfortable. He was on the ground rolling in pain and tightly gripping his crotch. Justice was unsatisfied with the answer, Equal could tell from the irritated expression on her face. He let out a heavy sigh and crossed his arms. "We have a team of highly trained operatives on their case. What makes you think that you will do any better than them?"

Justice was left speechless, she couldn't answer that. She bit her bottom lip and caved in to his order. Equal cut off radio chatter and stared back up at the beam of light. A wicked smile seemed to slowly crack out from his lips. Plastering itself so innocently onto his face, and yet the intent behind it was deadly. _This is it. This is where the final phase begins. A war is about to come. A war in which we will be left standing, we will fight for our survival and revenge with every tide of the battle_.


	2. Conditioning

**Red vs. Blue Season 16**

 **Chapter 1: Conditioning**

"My fellow men and women," everyone on the station's surface heard from the various hovering display monitors a familiar voice. The image on it was as clear as the blue oceans edging the lands. The figure on the monitor prompted several to cheer a familiar greeting. "For the New Order!"

Five cloaked figures looked up amidst the roaring crowds. They aqua armored soldier saw him again, under the helmet he gritted his teeth and balled his hands into fists. Doc looked all around him at the madness that reflected in his yellow visor. "Even in this sector people are crazy like this about him."

"Yeah, looks like someone is ridding a little too high on their horse if you ask me," said Sarge keeping his voice low. Caboose looked towards Sarge and suddenly leaned in close asking. "What horse and can I ride it?"

"That was supposed to be metaphorical blue-tard."

"Oh…so what is he riding then?" asked the clueless soldier causing much headache to Sarge. _I didn't think there would be a time in my life where I would wish so much for Grif to be here. I would take Grif over Caboose please god_. Tucker broke up the group's conversation as he continued to listen to the mindless cheers around him and Equal's speech.

"As some of you may have seen our video footage of the station's condition, we are working tirelessly to do whatever we can to recover from this. The invaders who managed to get aboard our station and cause this much grief for us all will pay. It is just a matter of time, and you can help shorten that time should you ever see these individuals," said Equal just as the picture of everyone from Blood Gulch faded onto the screen. "Report them immediately. Do not engage them in any actions that could put your own safety at risk. We have already lost a lot in the past, and now with these individuals we lost a great deal more. Once they are caught, rest assured that they will be sent to the gallows."

The crowd continued to cheer and threw slurs towards the Blood Gulch crew. "Off with their heads!"

"Talk about barbaric," Tucker noted.

"[Sucks to be you humans, I can always just get my body repaired.]"

"You are right Lopez. It would indeed be a tragedy if I were to be caught. So nice of you to care about your dear old commander," Sarge replied in his own delusional understanding. Lopez could not even bring himself to argue anymore. Over the past couple of days, he had learned to just live with Sarge's delusions and leave it at that even when he wasn't planning on messing around with him. Doc saw the rising energy all around them, it sent a sense of fear. "Right now I feel more scared of these people than I do of that Equal guy."

"It's okay, if you close your eyes and count to five it will get all better," said Caboose still enjoying the speech. Sarge looked back up towards the monitor to find Equal's face turn dark. "I have also wanted to convey another piece of message to you all. A war approaches."

"That doesn't sound good," said Doc breaking Tucker's concentration. "Yeah, no shit."

"We have been doing whatever we can to make sure we have a strong battle fleet, but we will suffer this time as well. Know that I wish there were some other way, but if we wish to attain the ultimate goal that you have all supported us through for all these years, then we will need to take extreme actions. I wish there were some other way that did not involve bringing on anymore casualties to our side, but there isn't. Soon, the war for our revenge shall finally begin. We will be the first to strike the UNSC when their core is most bare and take them by surprise."

The group noticed the shift in tone between every crowd member. From the once infatuated and the worshipping tone, it turned to that of malice. In everyone's eyes there was malice. It sent shivers down everyone's back. Tucker started to back away scared at what might become of them if they were ever revealed in this state to the others. He tapped the shoulders of the others to follow him. "I suddenly don't feel like staying here."

"Count me in on that," said Sarge keeping his shotgun handy under his cloak. As they walked past another diverse group, they could hear several slurs being tossed around. But this time it was not aimed at their group but the UNSC themselves. "Fuck the monsters!"

 _They really do dislike the UNSC don't they?_ Everyone in the group wondered. _Not to mention, the citizens here worship Equal almost like a god. Just what do they teach these guys here?_ They all stopped to see the last bit of the message play. "There will be hardships along the way, but I believe that this path is worth it to finally avenge all our fallen comrades and revenge for what they did to us. Fear not for our salvation shall soon be at our doorsteps, we will succeed!"

* * *

The group exited the crowd into a back alley. Tucker threw up his arms in frustration. "Great, so everyone on this station has a serious raging hard on for hating on the UNSC and anyone that belongs to it."

Everyone was quiet waiting for Tucker to say something else. There was only silence. _Guess this whole thing is getting to him_ , thought Doc as he placed a gentle grip on Tucker's right shoulder pad. "Calm down Tucker, getting worked up won't help anyone here."

They all continued to a familiar door. It had been deeply ingrained into their memories now for it was their only escape from all the hate around them. Behind the door was a dark set of stairs leading down into a tunnel. At the end of the tunnel was another door, one that was their only place of respite. Knocking on the door of the rebellion group, they were asked to confirm the password to grant them entry. Everyone looked at Sigma who recited the words. "To bring down the New Order is our mission. To break the illusion thrusted onto people is the purpose of our existence."

"You may enter," said the voice from behind the door as it swung open. The group walked inside and let down their hoods. Sarge grumbled to himself. "Who creates a complicated password like that? Should have just kept it 1234 or something."

"[You always pick something stupid and easy to crack, stupid old man.]"

"Yes that was fun now wasn't it?"

* * *

They all hung up their cloaks and looked at the new figure entering the main room. The man with short and well kept black hair stared up at the group of misfit soldiers. His black eyes scanned them back and forth for any visible damage. _Good, no casualties and it seems that they managed to avoid stirring up any trouble this time around judging from their calm behavior_. He walked over to a huge round table and placed a few documents on the table. "Jake, check these over and write up a detailed report."

"On it boss."

"So Samuels," began Tucker getting the man's attention. "What is it with all the people on the surface being dicks towards us on this station?"

Samuels rubbed the right side of his forehead where a scar lay. It was created during a mission gone wrong, but thankfully no one had managed to see his face, or so he claimed. He motioned for the crew to follow him further inside the hideout to yet another room. This one was filled with holographic display tables and various computers. It was their main base of operations for intelligence related tasks. He typed a few strokes on the digital keys and brought up various articles.

The crew saw it with curiosity, but more so with confusion. They all looked at him expecting an answer to accompany these images. He crossed his arms and shook his head. _Slow as ever_. "All these articles that you see are about Equal. If you will notice the undertones, he is treated like he is a god."

"Oh great, that's what we need, fanatics," Doc noted. Quickly O'Malley took over. "Oh shut up, at least they will listen like mindless idiots. All you ever do is try to drive me insane…well more insane than I already am."

"The thing is, this concept of Equal being a god is taught since kindergarten here. Meaning the mental conditioning, or rather brainwashing is done since birth really. The original founders of this space station put him in charge, and they all agreed that it was best to have others agree on him as a power of authority through extreme measures. Right now they may teach that Equal is a god kindly, but in the past they apparently used force and various torture to drill the concept into people's head."

"What type of force? If you get my meaning, bow-chika-bow-wow," Tucker joked only to earn a stern glare from Samuels. "Jeez, sorry for trying to lighten the mood Mr. Grumpy."

"To you all it may seem like just another thing that happened, but to us it is important that we stop such indoctrination. To make matters worse, the UNSC was painted in a very negative light. Simply put, Equal is symbolized as Jesus where all his shortcomings and negative actions are covered up and forgotten. Whereas the UNSC are treated like the devil, all their actions are amplified in a negative light and that only gains more support for Equal's plans for revenge," Samuels replied looking down at the table. "He has created a rather tedious, but strong system of indoctrination. It isn't something that we can so easily take down on our own, not with the resources that we have. And that brings me to my next set of points, resources."

"What about them?" asked Tucker. Samuels looked up to the aqua soldier immediately silencing him with his stare. "While we are growing our numbers steadily, the overall situation is still not good. No matter how many steps we take forward, Equal seems to take at least five times more than that."

"Still doesn't mean we can't strike. In fact we should strike them right in the keister where it will hurt the most heh heh," Sarge suggested brandishing his shotgun. Samuels wasn't opposed to striking the New Order while they still had the advantage of anonymity, but for now he waved the idea off. "Get something to eat and rest. Right now, we can't afford to be too risky. Sooner or later we will have our opportunity to strike."

* * *

"Ah you just have to take the fun out of everything," Sarge complained following the others. Tucker remained behind much to Samuels' notice. "Is there something wrong?"

"No I was just thinking about some things. Things like why Equal would do all this. He didn't seem like such a bad person, aside from his psycho tendencies and kidnapping when I first met him during the interrogations."

"Don't be fooled by what a person is like on the outside. Humans have the ability to fool others. Some are more easily fooled than others. Why else have con artists managed to exist so long in our societies up to now? The fundamentals of human nature will never change as that is how we are wired."

"Okay, here is another question. Why would you be helping us?"

Samuels let out a long drawn in breath and looked to his right. There hung a picture of Locus alongside a small memoriam for him. He walked close to the lit candles by each side of the picture and grazed his hands over them. The warm sensation was a welcomed change in this cool underground base. "I initially helped you because Locus made me promise that I do so."

"Is that the only reason?" Tucker inquired pushing for a more detailed response. Samuels shook his head and continued moments after. "No, initially I thought of you all as dead weight to carry around. I thought that I will have to put up with you all because of that promise. But truth be told, after some time and thought you all proved to be valuable. The amount of damage that was caused in your rescue mission was something we could never hope to achieve on our own."

"Yeah well it's not like we are proud of that damage," Tucker replied looking down on the ground. He could still remember the flinging bodies out into space as Sector-D depressurized. Samuels stopped to give Tucker a moment to recompose himself. "The lives lost could not be helped in that situation. At least I don't think it could have been avoided."

"But it could, if only we were more careful."

Samuels remained quiet and saw the candle's flame following the directions of his hands when he hovered them over the candles. "We have all made mistakes Tucker. It's just that some mistakes are bigger than others, but you can still redeem yourself by doing the right thing. Getting back to the original question, I changed my line of thinking on this whole topic after contemplating it. Anyone who can cause so much damage to the New Order is definitely a welcomed and a necessary asset."

"Sure," Tucker replied turning to leave for his room. The rest of the crew and rebellion members went about their business, some to eat, to work and others to sleep. This was all that they could do until the day finally came to strike back for all the hardships Equal's administration has caused them all.


	3. Samuels' Reason

**Chapter 2: Samuels' Reason**

Samuels stared all around him to see if he was tailed. The coast was clear. _Good_ , he pondered to himself and entered the door leading to his underground product of hard labor. He knocked on the door and gave the password to enter. Inside he was greeted by several familiar faces and a sense of relief came over him, he was in a place where his heart could be more relaxed. Outside, up above he had to be always careful and aware. Down here, he can be more at ease and treat this place as though it were his home.

He walked into the intelligence room and found Tucker standing by the small memoriam Samuels spent some time setting up. The blue soldier seemed deep in thought, so much so that he didn't even notice Samuels' presence. Samuels noted the completed documents neatly placed as instructed of Jake. _The lad is fast,_ he thought walking over and picking up the folder. He opened the cover to see many detailed notes inside made on a photocopy of the original document, as well as a detailed report.

 _And he is very meticulous_ , Samuels pondered putting the report away. _This should make for an interesting bed time reading tonight_. Samuels saw the fixated gaze that still hovered over Locus' picture from Tucker's visor. He quietly walked up behind him. "Thinking about something?"

"Agh!" Tucker jumped nearly waking up the whole base. Samuels mischievously smirked noting. "I didn't know a soldier outfitted in an advanced armor could scare so easily."

"Jeez, don't do that man," Tucker replied rubbing the back of his helmet. "Even Locus had the nasty habit of sneaking up on people."

"That nasty habit I'm sure helped him survive to the point he did."

"Maybe," Tucker replied crossing his arms and feeling his mind fall back down into the pit of deep thoughts. Samuels motioned towards Locus' picture and asked. "You visit here often during the night like this?"

"When is it not ever night in this place?"

"Good point," Samuels chuckled. Tucker looked over his shoulder to see Samuels staring back at him with a relaxed look. "Tell me something, why did you ever join this rebellion to begin with? Was it because Locus created it?"

"Locus never created the rebellion," Samuels corrected Tucker earning a stunned look from behind Tucker's visor. "The rebellion existed long before Locus even came to this station. It's just that with Locus' help the rebellion grew dramatically. He had his ways of spreading information and persuading others to join us, just as he did with me."

"That's a surprise. I always thought that Locus would do something as crazy as starting his own organization built for war."

"He figured you would say something like that," Samuels mused crossing his arms. Tucker turned to face Samuels with his fullest attention. "You mean he said that to you?"

"More or less," Samuels replied and looked back towards Locus' picture. The man was still in his armor. _A look most befitting a warrior_. He cleared his throat and thought of where to begin. "Now, where should I start?"

"How about telling me how you got involved in this organization."

* * *

"Hmm, truth be told, that was only thanks to my meeting with Locus. Before meeting him and how he helped open my eyes to what was really happening, I was just another one of those citizens you see on the surface."

"Hard to see you fitting that bill," Tucker joked with a wide grin plastered over his face. Samuels grinned himself waving his hand in the air. "Don't let appearances fool you. Anyways, I met Locus when my curiosity got the better of me."

"You get busted by the New Order or something?"

"I suppose something along those lines," said Samuels looking at Locus' picture. "It was when I tailed a member of the rebellion to their hideout, and I was caught trying to sneak my way inside. It was Locus who caught me and at first I thought that 'since he is from the New Order, I will be fine. All I have to do is be honest about my findings and surely they will let me go.' Turns out that wasn't the case. He instead ended up questioning me quite heavily and even went as far as to threaten me to never go near that building again if I knew what was good for me."

"And you didn't listen."

"I didn't listen," Samuels confirmed with a wider grin. "I must admit, both as a young lad and even now I manage to get up to my own misadventures and mischief every once in a while. Although that was one hell of a misadventure I got myself tangled into."

"What happened after Locus warned you?"

"Have you heard the phrase 'Curiosity killed the cat'?"

"Um…sure," Tucker replied shrugging his shoulders, as he pondered where Samuels was going with this line of statements. Samuels seemed distant now. He came back to reality and turned to talk towards Tucker. "Well my curiosity got the better of me, almost to the point where my head was nearly blown off."

"Come again?"

"Yeah, I followed Locus inside the tunnel. Thankfully while I was stupid to take such a risk, I was smart enough to maintain some distance between us. Sadly that wasn't enough, not against the master of stealth anyways."

* * *

"Yeah, he had a way of always sneaking up on people," Tucker agreed recalling all the times Locus managed to surprise him. _Every damn time he would make my heart jump_. Tucker turned to look at the picture and asked. "So you said that it was because of Locus that you joined, what did he do to get you to join? He didn't promise you a revolution or some shit like that now did he?"

"Something like that. To be fair when he caught me and brought me before everyone else, I was questioned about why I was here. Obviously I was struck speechless and so he even went as far as to pull out his side arm on me. According to him it was for the sake of the rebellion group but I think he was also doing it to protect himself. Although luckily my dumb mouth spoke something sensible at that time that caused him to withdraw his weapon and I volunteered to join the cause."

"Seriously, just like that?"

"Just like that," Samuels replied shrugging his shoulders. "Why, were you expecting something fancier?"

"No, it's just that when you talked about this before you hyped it up so much."

"I suppose I may have," Samuels said looking at the passing figures in the door frame. He looked back at Tucker and thought deeply about the moments he spent with Locus afterwards. "I wasn't entirely convinced nor invested in the cause to begin with. I always thought of this as a means of prolonging my life, but that all changed when Locus showed me footage of what was happening beneath the veil of 'truth' the New Order had us believing all this time. It took a lot of convincing but he finally got me."

"So now you are here stuck with us."

"Now I'm here stuck with you all…yup. But it's not so bad," Samuels stated with a wide grin as he remembered back to his promise with Locus. 'Keep them safe Samuels, for they will be the only hope of ever releasing the station and its inhabitants from the illusions and hatred they have been fed,' echoed the voice of Locus in his head. _Even now I can still remember your voice so clearly Locus. Life and death are truly mysterious and fearful concepts. Was it karma that caught up to all your past actions and gave you your just dues or something else? Either way…life can be a real bitch sometimes_.

"Do you see him still? In your dreams I mean," Tucker asked in a hesitant tone diverting his gaze from Samuels. His conversational partner looked at the aqua soldier and let out a huff. "I can't say that I don't. Grief has weird ways of manifesting in one's mind."

"I wonder if things could have been different had he never come to this station in the first place."

"I doubt they would have for him. According to him, he and Equal had been in contact for a long time after the war ended. Equal even asked for his advice from time to time even if Locus wasn't directly involved in matters. It was only a matter of time that he came on board, but had to leave for a job on Chorus. After that he ended up coming back, but then there was something different about him. Well that is at least how he tells it," mused Samuels turning to walk away. Tucker stopped Samuels midway and stated. "You still didn't give me a clear answer about your reasons."

"My reasons huh, I guess it's because like Locus, I also know what loss is like. The only difference being, the people he lost still live, where as the ones I lost are gone forever at the hands of the New Order. I guess I'm not doing this for any noble reasons, but more or less to avenge the death of my loved ones. Not something you can exactly proclaim for a group designated to free others now can you?" Samuels stated pushing to walk past Tucker. He looked back one last time at his conversational partner and said. "Get your rest Tucker, you will need it. Tomorrow will be a busy day. One I'm sure Caboose would love."

"Knowing him, he would probably treat it as a field trip or something," said Tucker shaking his head. Samuels let out a small laughter and agreed. "Yeah, he probably would."


	4. Barely Escaped

**Chapter 3: Barely Escaped**

"Look alive people, its Christmas come early!"

Everyone looked toward the source of the loud noise. Samuels walked into the main room of the base with two crates in his hands and set them down on the table with an ecstatic grin. "And Santa has brought a lot of presents for you all."

"Santa brought presents? Aw if I knew he was coming, I would have set out some milk and cookies!" Caboose exclaimed causing the rest to shake their heads and wonder the same things. _Just how is it that he has managed to survive this long even with the help of others?_ Jake brought in a couple more crates and set them down beside the others. "Take your pick guys."

"Wow!" one of the rebellion members exclaimed studying the advanced objects inside the boxes. There were so many weapons of different kinds. They sparkled brightly in Sarge's visor as he cleared his throat. "You fellas wouldn't be familiar with the international dibs protocol now would you?"

"Too late because I already called dibs on this baby right here," Tucker stated gently rubbing a plasma rifle. Doc held a rocket launcher in good form and studied its ammo compartment. "Time to go to town and make it rain mwhahahah!"

Lopez took several and walked off to his own area and started fiddling with a few. _Well at least he is enjoying himself_ , thought Sarge as he saw the others take their fair share of the guns. "How is it that in all my time in the military, no one has heard of the dibs protocol?"

"Probably because it doesn't exist and is bullshit," replied Tucker causing the other rebellion members to agree. Sarge just picked out some shotguns and walked off grumbling under his breath. He studied one of the shotguns that stood out to him most thanks to its rather slick but futuristic design. "I got it!"

"Got what Sarge Captain?" asked Caboose. Sarge ran his fingers over the various curves of the gun. "I will name her Sasha!"

"Oh, that's nice. Kind of like Freckles."

"Yeah, except Sasha isn't constantly yammering and isn't high maintenence."

Freckles suddenly moved in Caboose's hand exclaiming. "I can kick her ass any day!"

"Down boy!"

"Yes Captain Caboose."

Doc and Tucker looked back and forth between Caboose, Freckles and Sarge. They both scratched their heads and crossed their arms. Tucker felt his mind weigh heavy from the confusion. "I'm having a hard time following this conversation."

"Join the club," said Doc as he turned to walk away. Tucker looked at Doc and asked. "Really? I thought medics are supposed to be able to easily diagnose this sort of stuff."

"Trust me, there is a lot of stuff I have diagnosed with you guys, but we would be here all day long listening to me ramble on and on."

"Okay, all of a sudden I lost interest in this topic," Tucker replied hurrying away from everyone else. Samuels looked around at the excited faces. _Hardly anything I would consider getting pumped up about but if it makes them happy, it makes them happy. As long as their morale is kept up in high spirits, it's alright I suppose_. "Jake, bring in the rest."

"Sure," the young man replied walking out the room. Everyone froze to see more boxes coming in. One of the members jumped at the chance to see the new box. "Just how many of these did you guys get?"

"Oh well we just managed to nick a shipment truck filled with guns and ammo to the brim. No big deal," Samuels replied in a very boisterous manner. The others shook their heads with another member stating. "You two have some serious balls to actually hijack a weapons truck and bring it back to our hideout. I bet the security detail on this truck gave you a good chase."

"Well they tried, but unfortunately for them, Jake's skilled driving managed to quickly lose them. I bet they felt pretty stupid after that," Samuels replied with a mischievous laugh. They all engaged in a bout of laughter and one asked. "So we have enough weapons and ammo here to go on a heist spree, but what plans do we have to make use of these things?"

"Don't you worry about that, we will get the opportunity to sooner or later when Equal slips up," said Jake.

"If he slips up," another member corrected. Samuels patted that member's back and gave a reassuring smile. "Don't you guys worry about stuff like that. Just leave the planning up to me and a few others. Focus on your tasks, gun practice and families. When the time comes, we can all go gung-ho."

"You are the boss," said another putting the weapons away. Samuels called Jake over and asked for him to begin making entries into their databases for the weapons and ammo inventory. The young fighter went into the intelligence room to quickly carry out the task taking all that he needed. The Blood Gulch crew put down the weapons with the rest, but they separate them enough to still recognize the ones they called dibs on.

Later that day, Samuels noticed the Blood Gulch crew putting on their robes. He approached the group with a curious tone. "Going topside?"

"Yeah, we all need a change of scenery once in a while. I don't know how you guys manage to stay cooped up in here all the time," said Tucker leading the others towards the door. Samuels looked at the group and down to his notepad. "Just be careful up there. They are holding the usual daily announcements, or as I like to call it, the brainwashing sessions."

* * *

On the surface, the instructional drones hovered above the clamoring crowds. The crew looked all around and noted the high energy. _Where do they even get all this energy from just for his speeches?_ Doc stopped the rest from proceeding any further. "If we go out into the middle of the street, not only will we be easily spottable, but risk giving ourselves away to the public."

"Good point, I don't want to be persecuted anytime soon," said Sarge turning to change directions. Tucker looked up at the monitors on which Equal appeared. The man bore a considerate and kind smile as he spoke to the masses. _Yet behind that smile is a broken and a hate filled dude_ , thought Tucker as he helped Caboose along in the huge crowd. They all found themselves a nice quiet spot and stretched their body.

"Staying underground is getting old real fast," said Tucker as he held one elbow in his hand and stretched it over his head. They all agreed to that. "Now I can take Freckles out for his walk!"

Another monitor hovered over them and they all looked up at the topic being discussed, love and peace. _How can he talk about all of that considering the shit he put me through and puts himself through?_ Tucker pondered as he shook his head. Equal continued to talk without a break and Tucker finally had enough. "Man, he sure does love the sound of his own voice doesn't he?"

"Hey! Who said that?!"

The crew became alert and heard the various unexpected noises from the crowd. The once cheerful crowd was starting to turn violent towards Tucker's comments. _Uh oh_ , Tucker started to back away with the rest into the shadows. Caboose quickly turned and ran away. "Running time!"

They all managed to escape without creating too much of a stir around themselves. Doc looked up at Tucker having caught his breath and stated. "Hey Tucker, in the future don't go around dissing their deity."

"Or else I will have to willingly throw you out for the wolves," said O'Malley as he collected himself together from all the confusion. Tucker brushed off the remarks of the others and looked at where they were. "Sig, help me out here."

"It would appear we are about ten kilometers off from the hideout," said Delta suddenly materializing besides Caboose. They all looked at the map Delta drew and Sigma highlighted the best route they could take. Theta appeared beside the two fragments, although the purple fragment seemed to be hiding behind Delta while conducting his work. "We could take this route to make our travel even shorter."

Sarge looked at the newly suggested route and agreed. "Great going Theta, I guess having little fairies around is paying off in the long run after all."

"Donut could have told you that," said Caboose earning silence all around. "What?"

"Too soon Caboose, too soon," Doc answered amongst the slightly dreary mood. Tucker led the way back according to the directions and made it safely back into the base. The mood remained quite dreary after that, especially for Sarge. No matter how much Samuels would ask, he could not get any response out of the crew.

* * *

"Just what is this?" Equal asked comfortably seated on his chair. He left a dominant impression on everyone in the room from his glaring tone to his angered stare. The report in front of him was not pleasing in the least. He stood up walking around his desk. Coming face to face with the employees, he stared them all down and saw their fearful selves finally come out of hiding. He turned to walk towards the window and looked outside. "After all the resources I dedicate specifically towards this case, this is all you can get me for a result?"

"But sir finding them is proving to be more difficult than we anticip-"

"I don't want excuses," Equal rebutted immediately having closed his ears to such talks. "Save those for your pity sessions amongst one another. Do you know out of all the other sectors how many resources, including manpower I left at your disposal? I was promised results in under a week."

They all remained quiet with their heads low. Equal took that as a sign to continue. "Yet here we are, it has been two days over a week and all those resources seem to have gone to waste. All that precious time I could have spent on rebuilding the station. On top of that you come to me with the news of stolen weapons!"

"Sir, please calm down," requested one of the staff with their head the lowest he had ever seen it. "Please, anger won't solve anything."

"I disagree, maybe because you are all too calm that you can't do jack squat!" Equal shouted holding himself back from raising his voice any higher. "This level of progress is pitiful for the one squad that had been trained on a much higher level than others. I expected more out of you people and your division! And now we have to investigate this stolen shipment of weapons as well. Weapons that I might add were supposed to go towards the war effort."

"We are really sorry sir."

"Leave my sight!" Equal stated in a swift manner. The three employees in the room left with their heads low and spirits nearly crushed under the weight of Equal's scrutiny. Justice looked at them all as they entered the elevator and gave them a look of pity. _Yeesh, once he really starts chewing others out he really chews them out_. She turned to walk into the room and saw him sitting at his desk with his head in his hands.

* * *

Justice walked to his side and placed a firm grip on his shoulder. "Don't worry too much Equal. You will only create more stress for yourself this way."

"What else am I supposed to do with our time drawing near? We are so close and yet these small screw ups keep on happening. After all this time spent on the setup, I can't let this be for nought. We have a conviction to uphold, I have a duty to you all."

"But getting angry at them won't solve anything."

"Stop defending them Justice," Equal scoffed shoving her hand off of himself. He stood up to stare out the window at the busy sector and blew out a sigh. "If they as military personnel can't defend themselves, then don't go around defending them. All I could hear out of their mouths were bloody excuses when they should have owned up to their mistakes. At times I really wonder if these people actually want us to succeed in this war or not. I just see hindrances everywhere in those times."

Justice suddenly patted Equal's back and leaned onto him. "There you go again with the negative talk. You know we all want to succeed in our collective goal. It's just that they enemy is much better at hiding their presence than we anticipated."

"For a bunch of B-class soldiers, I doubt that would be possible unless it was the incompetence of our own soldiers."

"Well leaving that behind," said Justice getting his attention. She held up her fists in front of her and he looked at her questionably. "Time for some training."

"I can't even think of that in times like these."

"You can't hope to win a war if you let yourself go physically or are underprepared Equal. It doesn't hurt to hit the gym once in a while you know," said Justice practically dragging him out of his office. "Plus, if you want to lead the soldiers into battle in the war then you better be prepared the best you could be."

"You just want to kick my ass again," Equal asked with a flushed face recalling all the other times he had lost to her ever since they began to train him in various fighting techniques. "And then be able to gloat about it to Truth."

"Maybe," she winked back at him with an innocent smile, but with the intentions and tone of a playful devil.


	5. Rude Awakening

**Chapter 4: Rude Awakening**

"Your defeat is my victory!"

With a loud echo Carolina is shot out into the dark recesses of her mind. _Where am I?_ All around there was only darkness. _How did I get here?_ Far off in the distance she could make out the shape of a space station. _That's right, my fight with that big guy…wait a minute, Wash!_ She turned to look to her side and found the grey soldier floating still.

"Hey Wash, talk to me!" she shouted, but quickly her voice was silenced in this dark void. Noises which she could hear inside her own helmet seemed to take no effect on the outside. Her breathing got heavy. She looked all around at the darkness and felt its suffocating effects. _No, I have to calm down. I can't get worked up like this_. Her eyes just then blinked in a realization. _That's right, Epsilon help me out here!_

She cast out all other thoughts and awaited his response. She waited and waited, but there was no response. _Epsilon, are you there?_ There was still no response. _If you are trying to be funny here then you are failing miserably. Come on, show yourself_. There was nothing but silence waiting for her. Her eyes widened in slight panic. She fought back the urgency to freak out and looked all around to get a better sense of her surroundings. But like she saw before, they were still in the dark void.

 _What is going on here?_ She pondered as she turned to face Wash and activated her jets in his direction. _First things first, I have to check up on his condition. Clearly my voice isn't reaching him, so I will just have t-_ , Carolina froze midway in her thoughts as she came up against an invisible wall. _What is this?_ She felt a certain pressure keeping the two apart. She was only centimeters away from him. She increased the power in her jets to push harder against the wall and it didn't budge nor break.

She felt a growing sense of impatience. _I can't afford to waste my time with this crap!_ She punched the wall hard. There was no sense of pain in her fist and it didn't seem like the punch had any effect either. She continued to hammer away at the wall with all her might, and all that strength was wasted. She looked to her right and shifted spots. The wall was still there. She changed spots again and the wall was still there. Flying back to her original spot, she stared at Wash with great worry. _Come on, at least move. Show me that you are still alive Wash_.

* * *

"Hey Sis."

Carolina's ears perked up at the words. She heard the familiar voice of Epsilon, no it was Church. She turned to see him behind her matching her body size. "Surprised?"

"Church, but you are supposed to be dead."

"Please, you are talking to an AI Fragment here. Death is like just another thing that happened so last week to us."

"So wait, you are actually alive?"

"I'm standing in front of you aren't I?" he asked holding out his arms for her. She could feel her eyes water. No matter how hard she tried to remain focused her emotions began to get the better of her. She flew close to him and in a barrage of questions she asked. "Where were you this whole time and why didn't you say anything?!"

"Jeez, that's the first time I have seen you get so emotional Carolina."

She stopped to look to her right at the Yellow armored soldier. Her fellow freelancer stood before her with his helmet in his hand. His eye still scarred, but his optimism intact. She could feel her lips quiver from the man standing before her. "York?"

"The one and only," he replied resting his helmet against his waist. She flew in close and landed in front of him. Even though he couldn't see it, behind her visor she struggled hard to hold back her tears. _Why are they here? How could they be here?_ Were just some of the questions that plagued her mind. But right now she decided to focus on what was important. "York…"

"Hey now, don't go around saying my name so much. It's embarrassing you know," he replied holding her hand. She let out a gasp at the touch. This feeling was real. _He really is here. He is real. York…I can't believe this_. "I have so much to tell you York."

"Ugh, can the two love birds please get a room?" asked the familiar voice of South. Carolina turned to see the whole Freelancer crew together. Her family stood all together proudly wearing their armor both as soldiers and individuals who hope to help further humanity. She ran towards them all and saw Tex walk out of the group. Carolina stopped in her tracks to see the black armored soldier walk up close to her.

Carolina was even happy to see Tex still alive. In the shadows, she could make out the figure of her father and the Counselor. _Even the director is here?_ From behind the Freelancer group came the Blood Gulch crew who stood all around them all. _Everyone is here_. Carolina suddenly started to feel an uplifting sense of happiness.

* * *

"Carolina, how could you?" Tex suddenly asked. Carolina turned to look at her with a questionable look. "How could I what?"

"How could you let us all die?"

"What?" and with a flash of light all was laid to rest. The Freelancers all were on the ground in a pool of their own blood. She looked at York to her side and jolted backwards. _No, no I don't want to lose them again_. "Stay with me York, stay with me all of you!"

"Didn't you make a promise to protect us all?" asked Tucker in his dying breath. She looked all around her with her once happy atmosphere quickly turning to horror. Her eyes began to water in her helmet causing both her vision and visor to blur. Tex walked towards Carolina and bent down by her side. She gently closed York's eyes and glared at Carolina. "You always talked about wanting to be the best and in the end you couldn't protect anyone."

"No, you have it all wrong!"

"Do I? Then what do you call that?!" Tex demanded pointing towards the body of her father. The pistol she left him with was there in his blood, and a bullet wound through the head was evident. "You gave him that pistol after all! You call that protecting?!"

"No, I hated him!"

"But you changed didn't you? And you still gave him the pistol to kill himself with instead of having him repent for his mistakes!"

"It was the right thing to do at the time! Please, no more!" Carolina shouted holding the sides of her head with her hands. Tex forced Carolina to look her way and pointed towards Church. "And you let him go with the others towards his own death."

Carolina looked at Church who was disintegrating into little pieces. Tex shook Carolina violently as she began to spill blood from every opening of the armor. "You let us all die!"

"I- I'm sorry!"

"Sorry won't bring us back! You are no hero Carolina! You aren't the best and you most certainly are not the protector you thought yourself out to be. You are just a weak helpless little child pretending to play soldier!"

"Leave me alone!" shouted the cyan armored woman. Tex suddenly froze and with the last ounce of her blood drained, she dropped dead onto the imaginary ground. Carolina opened her eyes to see all the bodies piled around her. _I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. I couldn't protect anyone in the end. Not even you Church_.

She was suddenly in front of Washington's body and saw his visor crack. More panic grew in her mind as she reached out for him and was finally able to touch him. "Wash, stay with m-"

His whole body began to grow cracks all over. Little by little pieces of him began to disintegrate and she backed away in panic. _Wash?_ Carolina drew in closer trying to keep what was left of him from floating away. "Stay with me!"

"You are a real hero Carolina," Tex's demeaning voice echoed all around her. "Unfit to be a soldier let alone keep a promise. And unfit to be cared for and loved by others."

"You are wrong!"

"No, even you yourself believe you are weak," said Tex's disembodied voice with a sudden flash of light exploding from random points all around her.

* * *

Carolina drew in deep breaths as her blurry vision cleared. She was faced with a metallic ceiling, a comfortable linen bed sheet covering her body on top of a soft bed and the unwelcomed sharp hospital smell. She looked slowly moved her neck and felt her stiff muscles crackle under the pressure. _Where am I? What I just saw, it was all just a dream?_

She tried to get up, but much to her displeasure her own body forced her to stay down. A sudden bout of pain shot up from her ribs as she held onto one side. She looked around at the clean open room she shared with many other patients. The doctor in the room took notice of her and approached her with a happy smile. "You are finally up, and just like your friends had described you are already trying to move, quite the fighter you are."

"Who are you?"

"How rude of me, my apologies for the late introduction. I'm the resident doctor of this village, call me Ben," replied the good doctor taking out a pen from his chest pocket and making some notes on the papers attached to Carolina's bed. "It's a good thing your friends got you here when they did. You and a few others were at great risk."

"The others, where are they?"

"Well one is right here," said Ben pointing beside him towards Wash. Carolina could feel her heart almost drop, but rise a little with relief. "But the others are already out of here. I guess like you they couldn't wait to get out of here either. Can't blame them, who would want to stay in a hospital day in and day out?"

"How long have I been here?" she asked.

"Just a little over a week I would wager. I'm quite surprised that you managed to sleep all that time. But I suppose it did your body some good," Ben replied fixing his dark brown hair. Carolina caught streaks of grey in there. From the formation of wrinkles and deep voice, she wagered he would be in his fifties. He caught her curious stare with his dark brown eyes and asked. "Do you have another question?"

"More than I can count right now," she replied taking note of several black collars around the other patient's necks. The doctor told her to get her rest for now, and that he will come by again to answer any other questions she may have. As soon as he left, she looked to her right and picked up Wash's helmet. The large crack in his visor now indicated a scar in their bodies signifying failure. _I'm sorry Wash. But at least the others managed to make it out alright_.

"Well only some of us did," said Epsilon suddenly appearing beside her. She was surprised to see him take complete form. He was just like he was before, just like Church. She held onto the helmet rubbing her thumb over the crack. Epsilon stared at her deep contemplative face and asked. "What's bothering you?"

"Too much is bothering me. What did you mean by only some of us made it out of that mess?"

"Um well," Epsilon rubbed the back of his head trying to come up with the best explanation. "You see, it seems like the guys were separated. Some got blown out into space, while the others are stuck on the station."

"This is the worst possible situation we could be in right now," Carolina stated putting down the helmet. She tried to stand up but her body wasn't having any of it. She quickly tumbled back down into the bed much to her own surprise. _My body feels too weak. How could that guy have been so strong?_ She pondered remembering back to when she exchanged fists with Pure. His punches carried both speed and weight. She slid herself back into bed and looked towards Epsilon. "How many of us are here right now?"

"Well let's see, we have Sister, Grif, Donut, Simmons and you two. So that makes six out of our group, but there is also Captain Muffins and his crew, so there are quite a lot more here. Oh and speaking of Muffins," said Epsilon quickly disappearing. The good captain approached Carolina's bed and sat down awkwardly. "The doctor told me you woke up. So I thought to grace you with my humble visit scary freelancer lady."

* * *

"Gee, I feel so special," she replied sarcastically. He squirmed a little in his seat thinking, _if only the pickup guy were here, he could make this less awkward_. Carolina turned her eyes up to the ceiling and asked. "Where are we?"

"We are on the planet that was close by the space station, Planet-CV588."

"What is with the black collars around the necks of the other patients here?"

Muffins stopped to looked at them for a moment and saw the same thing he saw outside. "Those aren't just for the patients ja. It seems that everyone on this planet but us and important figures wear them."

"Why?"

"It was a measure implemented by the New Order to ensure the people of the planet don't retaliate against them. If they do, something really bad will happen."

"Bad like what?" she asked unable to imagine anything worse than the pain she is going through right now. Muffins took both his hands and flexed open his fingers as he moved his hands away from his head. "Your head and neck will go boom-boom."

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" she asked unimpressed at his attempt. Muffins shook his head deadly serious and stated. "I and my other useful Muppets, I mean crew gathered this information by interviewing various villagers here."

"Why would this New Order, whatever that is, have to fear these people retaliating?"

"The New Order is basically like the new law around here after the UNSC ja. As for why would they have to retaliate, let's leave that for now and have you focus on getting better," said Muffins as he stood up and took Wash's helmet with him. Carolina stopped him with a firm grip on his arm. "Where are you taking that helmet?"

"To get it repaired so it can be shiny new again. I know just the magic man for the job! Now rest time for you very scary yet attractive freelancer lady."

Hearing that she suddenly let go of his arm and Muffins could feel an arrow going through his heart. _Why the sudden rejection?!_ He pondered with river of tears streaming down his face. He left her alone to rest and think. _Just what have we gotten ourselves involved in?_


	6. Connections Made

**Chapter 5: Connections Made**

Carolina looked to her right and saw the good doctor Ben typing away at a few keys. He adjusted his glasses and studied the results of a scan from Wash's leg. _Seems to be doing much better than before_ , thought the doc, and he placed another contraption over Wash's leg. It seemed like an attachment for the scanner that emitted a bright green light.

"What is that?" Carolina asked studying the now moving object over Wash's leg. Ben finished typing in various commands before he turned to look at here. "This here is a quick way of helping the body heal, or rather the only way with you folks as we have no way of removing your armor."

Ben removed his glasses and stuffed them away in his pocket safely inside a case. He cleared his throat and indicated towards her forearm armor. "Take that piece of armor for example. The screws that hold it together are something we don't have the resources to remove with, not here at least. They probably could do it up on the space colony, but down here we are practically working with scraps. Therefore we must use more in-direct methods of healing for you and your friends. I used the same method as you see on him on everyone else. But that is only until the patient wakes up. I prefer to let the biological healing take over after that."

"From how you describe it, it sounds like this planet has been neglected."

"Neglected isn't the word I would use," Ben replied as he saw the device finish one round and prepped it for another round. "I would say this is more like abuse."

"That's a harsh way to say it," Carolina said slowly rising herself up from the bed. He glanced at her from the side of his eyes and shook his head. "Harsh from your view maybe, but it is the truth. Trust me, once you get to spend more time here and learn more about us, you will understand where we come from."

 _Maybe_ , she thought as he walked away after making a few notes on Carolina's medical forms. She let out a heavy sigh. Her confinement in bed was not sitting well with her. She wanted to get out, be walking, running and most of all training. She looked at her ribs and gritted her teeth. _I was weak. This is why we ended up this way. I was weak. This is why I was beaten to a pulp like this. I need to be stronger than I already am. I NEED to be the best_.

"Don't go getting ahead of yourself there Sis," said Epsilon appearing to her left. He could feel the unease in her mind swirling around like an uncertain pattern of stormy clouds. She looked his way and held up a finger his way. "Don't call me that."

"Call you what, Sis?"

"Only Church had the right to call me that Epsilon, you are not him."

"Eh okay?" the fragment replied shrugging his shoulders. But her feelings on this issue were at least clear to him unlike almost everything else about her right now. "Um, so getting back to the original point, don't go pushing yourself so hard right now. The last thing everyone here needs is you injuring yourself again."

She remained quiet and looked down at her hands. She took in a deep breath and asked. "You were running the healing unit after we both lost, weren't you?"

"It was the only way I could keep you from flat lining."

Carolina rubbed the back of her neck and found herself blushing a bit. She looked to her left straight into his visor. "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, seriously don't. It sounds awkward hearing it from you like this. Plus the recordings never said anything about you ever acting like this, what am I supposed to do in these situations?" Epsilon wondered in sudden panic and confusion. Carolina giggled a little getting his attention and he felt himself at ease as well. _At least she finally cracked a smile_.

* * *

"Oh my, you are already awake dear," said the voice of an old aged woman. Carolina could tell just from the tone and strength of the voice that the owner was in their seventies. She turned to see the frail old woman who had just begun to sit down beside her bed. The woman brushed her grey hair back with some red evident in it. Her green eyes looked all around curiously at the contraption running over Wash's leg. "Sadly it seems I can't say the same for him yet."

"Excuse me, but who would you be?" asked Carolina just as Epsilon logged off. The woman turned to look with an embarrassed look on her face and bowed her head in apology. "I'm so sorry for the late introduction. My name is Elsie. I have been visiting you most of the days you have been here alongside your other friends."

"So then are you one of the residents of the planet?"

"Yes, that would be correct."

There was an awkward silence between the two as they both stared off into different directions. Elsie tried to think of topics to talk about, but no matter what she couldn't find an interesting topic that might entice someone of Carolina's age. Carolina fidgeted under her bed sheets at a complete stand still on what to do. _What do I do? I have never really had to deal with seniors much before_. She looked out the window and noticed the same as ever grey tint still present.

"Excuse me mam," asked Carolina getting Elsie's attention. She pointed out the window questioning. "Does it not ever get sunny around here?"

Elsie stared out the window at the thunderous clouds and an unexpected sadness overtook her eyes. She seemed suddenly distant and let her head drop. "Mam, are you okay?"

"Oh, my apologies dear. I seemed to have drifted for a short while there. About your question, ever since these manmade clouds first appeared, we never again saw the sunlight, at least not clearly."

"Manmade, but what would cause people to make such clouds in the first place?"

"It is to deprive us of hope from looking up in the sky in optimism. Instead, when we look up, we only see what they want us to see, uncertainty of our survival and despair."

"I'm not sure I understand," Carolina replied now more confused than before. Elsie nodded her head in agreement. "It would be quite confusing for an outsider such as yourself to understand all this in such a small matter of time."

Elsie reached into her bag and held out a mini-tablet with a proud grin on her face. "We don't normally have this type of technology around here so you won't see many of us carrying this unless it's for work. This one was fixed up by my grandson, so I thought to make some use out of it after all."

"Okay," Carolina replied taking the tablet as it loaded several documents. They all outlined a certain theme amongst one another, despair. The point of the documents was to explain the purpose of the manmade thunderous clouds that were composed of various pollutants and some weather manipulation technology.

 _Why do such clouds exist?_

Our lives as we knew them ended with the assault by the UNSC. There are many who stand with us in our goals to rebuild and conquer those who so wrongly destroyed our homes, loved ones and our lives. But, there are those who choose to either stand against this decision, or remain entirely indifferent towards the choice in favor of a "peaceful" life. Such a notion is nothing but short of ridicule. For those who don't stand with us, they stand against us and as such we must take measures to ensure that they don't ever act out against us.

Over the course of a few coming months, we will be implementing a weather change. Look up to the skies one last time because in a matter of months, that will be the last time you get to see this blue sky. A message to all those who choose to remain here, you have made your choice. Whenever you look up, I will make it so that there is no sense of hope for you and that you spend the rest of your lives in the service of the New Order! You chose to stand against your own brothers and sisters in their cause.

Every choice has consequences, and yours is that of despair. Look up to the blue sky for now as that will be the last bit of hope you get to see for the rest of your lives.

~ Equal

"Equal…what is this supposed to be?" asked Carolina.

"It is a declaration of sorts I suppose. I remember first hearing about this and how the reaction broke out. It was expectedly violent, but even that was quickly pacified by the newly formed 'New Order'. It was quite inevitable that someone would step up to take control after the UNSC carried out those monstrous actions," said Elsie as she gripped her hands together. She could feel a slight shiver go down her spine still remembering the day crystal clear. It was engrained into her memory like a perfect picture. She stopped herself from trembling and looked up at the young woman sitting in front of her. She spared the best smile she could for her sake and said. "After the New Order took over, things have seemed to have gotten worse over the years."

Carolina noticed the slight glimmer on the edge of her eyes. She looked down in respect as Elsie wiped her eyes clean and took out a batch of cookies. "Enough of my yammering on and on. Since you had awoken, I figured you may be famished. It's not much but would you like some cookies?"

* * *

Carolina tasted one, she felt the dough melt in her mouth exploding with various sweet flavors. The cookie sent a relaxing sensation throughout her whole body. She could not help but smile at the feelings the cookie gave her. "It's delicious."

"I'm glad to hear that. I was worried if I added in too much sugar or if the dough baked properly for your liking or not," said Elsie as she reached in her bag to take out a napkin. She reached over to Carolina to wipe a stray piece on her cheek but before she could get to it, Carolina backed away surprised at Elsie's action. The old woman sat back down with a slightly disappointed yet understanding look. "I'm sorry, that was inconsiderate of me."

"Ah no, I'm sorry. I'm just not used to having people get so close like this," Carolina replied with her head down even if it hurt her ribs. She felt it important to pay her proper respects to her seniors. She looked up at Elsie's neck and asked. "Mam, I noticed that you don't have a collar around your neck."

"Oh that horrid thing, yes we get rid of it at a retirement age. Normally it's on for the duration of our life from the moment we are able to walk. But once we reach retirement, they take it off."

"By they, do you mean the New Order?"

"Yes," replied Elsie as she took out her black collar. "See this? This one was mine. They keep these on to ensure we behave and control us through the fear of being able to explode these at any given time. If they wanted, they could do so without a good reason and no one would still dare to question them."

"But, that just sounds wrong."

"I agree with you, but the New Order thinks differently. To them their goals are all that matter," Elsie stated closing shut her eyes. Her tone became derived of all energy. "Our lives are just an asset to them for as long as we can _work_ for them. Once we enter retirement, we are nothing more than a liability to them. A liability they wait for slowly to die and wither away from this world or if your are unlucky, they will come and do it for you to speed up the process. But then again, for some of us death is also a positive release from this life of slavery to the New Order."

Carolina stopped from taking another bite of the cookie and looked up at Elsie with her eyes wide open in shock. She put down the cookie and couldn't help but ask. "What would make you say such things mam? Why even say all this?"

"I'm sorry for rambling on about these negative subjects. It is just the environment that has shaped us in this way. But let's leave all that behind for now," said Elsie quickly changing her mood and with it the atmosphere around her. Ben approached the two and stood by the panel attached to the machine working on Wash. He stopped the machine, removed the attachment and made a few notes.

* * *

"I see you are doing a fine job as always Ben," said Elsie with her energetic and warm smile like before. Ben rubbed the back of his neck from fatigue and smiled back. "Well I'm the only resident doctor, if I don't take care of their health problems then who else will?"

He took note of the cookies by Carolina and felt his mouth water. He leaned in close studying them and felt a blush overcome him under the stare of Elsie. "Don't hesitate to help yourself."

"Uh, well if you insist."

"Come now, just be honest about your sweet tooth," she mused giggling away. Ben could only reply with a weirdly crooked smile, like that of a teenager who just had something great happen to them. "These are great."

"I'm glad to see another one likes these," Elsie replied happily handing him a handkerchief. Ben was clearly flushed by her kindness saying. "What are you saying? Your cooking is always good."

The two elders saw the confused soldier staring back and forth between them. Ben wiped his hands clean and explained. "I have known Elsie ever since I came to this village. Nearly everyone here basically considers her their grandmother of sorts and has immense respect for her. Believe it or not but she has lost her children at the hands of the New Order under the pretense of population control. So now her only family left is her young grandson whom she takes care of by herself."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear about your family," Carolina replied with her head down yet again. _Maybe that is why she was so openly reaching out for me when she wanted to wipe my cheek. Perhaps I remind her of a daughter she may have had?_ Carolina wondered. Elsie raised Carolina's head and asked for her to not do that again. "It is fine, after all you had nothing to do with that dear. Your sincerity is enough to touch this old woman's heart."

"On this planet filled with hate, she is one of the few people you could ever find who keeps their head up high filled with optimism," said Ben earning a light slap to the chest from Elsie. "Don't go around embarrassing your seniors like that."

"I'm only stating the truth. Anyways, you two play nice now," said Ben and departed to attend to the other patients. Elsie let out a weak but audible laughter. "That Ben, always the kidder."

Carolina gripped her chest and felt safe here. "But I think that's good. It's good to have others you can rely on, even if they aren't family by blood."

Elsie was astonished to hear such words from Carolina. "My my, it seems that even the young folks have some very wise pieces of wisdom to share form time to time. This old lady can learn a thing or two then I suppose."

* * *

Outside the small hospital building stood the rest of the crew in a predicament. Simmons looked all around the group and spoke up. "So, who wants to take care of h-"

Before he could even finish, he heard the answers. "Not it!"

"Great thanks guys. Wait a go be team players," Simmons replied clearly agitated at their responses. He looked at the young boy staring up at them all with great curiosity. He let out a heavy sigh thinking, _why did it have to be me? Me the guy who's dad ran out on him as a kid in the first place_. Simmons finally caved in and bent down to his level. "Uh hey kid. My name is Simmons, what's your name?"

"Oh this should be good," said Grif now quite glad that Elsie left him in their care. _At least I can get some good entertainment out of this_. Sis stood by Grif's side with her hands together and intensely studying the boy. "Uh are you okay?"

"Ooooh his cheeks looks so cute and stretchable!" she shrieked surprising everyone. Donut took a closer look and held up his hands close to the boy's cheek. "Yeah, they do…cheek stretching party!"

The boy quickly hid behind Simmons who tried to stop them all and keep them in line. "Hey Grif, why don't you make yourself useful and help me out here?"

"Uh sorry dude, I'm on my break."

"But we are not even on duty!"

"This is my well deserved break after all the shit we went through on the station," replied Grif only to find Simmons' hand quickly on his mouthpiece. "Dude, what gives?"

"Language!"

"Uh okay?" Grif replied backing away and saw how the boy clung to Simmons. _I guess he took an instant liking to him. But Simmons seems to be really getting into this_. The boy came out from behind him and with a shy face he introduced himself. "Hello, my name is Edward. I'm twelve years old so teach me lots please."

"Hey, call me Grif."

"My name is Donut, but secretly I'm double-O Donut, a spy to her majesty."

"Donut, we are not in England," said Simmons and saw the only one to introduce was Sister. _Please let this be a normal introduction_. She stood still with her hands trembling by her sides. "My name is Sister and let me stretch your cheeks!"

"Denied!" said Simmons smacking her visor with the palm of his hand. She rubbed her bum on the ground making some rather erotic sounds as Edward tugged on Simmons. "Why is she making those noises?"

"Well if you want to know kid," began Grif. "That's when women are in the heat and want to-"

"You finish that sentence and you will never have this pudding for tonight's dinner," Simmons stated at the edge of opening the pudding full way. Grif jumped in surprise and looked into every one of his pockets. _My pudding! When did he get that?! The sly bastard_. "Give that back you nerd!"

Simmons held the pudding high up and ran away with Grif chasing him. "Don't think so, finders keepers."

"Well I found it first!"

"But you didn't call dibs on it!"

"Simmons, if you don't get back here I'm going to include a special kind of _spit_ in your next meal!"

The other three looked at the ongoing skit and couldn't help but laugh in unison. Edward looked at them all and laughed the loudest. "This will be fun!"


	7. This is not so Bad

**Chapter 6: This is not so Bad**

"Hey Simmons look, I made this when I was ten!" shouted Edwards causing Simmons to nearly jump. He stopped the kid in his tracks and told him to use his quiet voice. Grif grinned under his helmet noting. "Yeah, we wouldn't want the resident nerd to have panic attacks every second."

Simmons turned around and held up a middle finger for Grif when Edwards wasn't looking. Grif's hands unfolded themselves in surprise and he was left to wonder, _so that's what that feels like_. Simmons followed Edwards around the streets of their village. Everywhere he looked, the buildings lacked color as rightly noted by Donut before.

"They are all just so bland. I'm thinking maybe adding a bit of blue, red, cyan, vermillion and a few other bright colors should liven up the place," said Donut as he studied every building inch for inch. Sis was too busy drooling over Edwards and Simmons, seeing them together made her childish heart flutter. _The maroon guy is so hot, Edwards is too cute and why are my hands tied up like this in such a crucial moment?!_

Moments before, everyone deemed it was a wise idea to tie up Sister's hands so she could no longer do questionable things to Edwards. Simmons bent down to take a look at the tablet. _Wow, this is quite advanced. Nowhere near what we can actually get from command but still, impressive for a kid his age_. "You said you fixed this?"

"Yup, I found the parts for it myself as well."

"That's so amazing," Donut glossed and showered Edwards in praises as he patted his head. The young boy couldn't help but be embarrassed and hide his face. Sister did her best to break out of the restraints unable to hold back her squeals. "Eyyaah! Too cute!"

"Amazing for sure," Simmons verified and shut down the tablet. "But if you see here, the boot up and shut down time is quite long."

"Hmm, I did wonder why that was," said Edwards scratching his head. He hit a brick wall like always when thinking of possible answers. They soon reached Elsie's and Edwards' home. Entering the young boy's room, they saw several electrical components and creations lying around on the floor. He grinned widely while rubbing the back of his head. "Sorry for the mess, I didn't have time to clean up."

Simmons turned the tablet over and opened it up. He looked at the internals and was astonished to see such a clean build on the inside. The wires were neatly tied around various components, each color coded with no excessive waste present anywhere. _He really is a genius of sorts_ , thought Simmons but took notice of some loose parts. _But I guess that can't be helped since he is a kid after all_.

Simmons took the closest parts to him and fixed the loose components. Next he looked at the actual hardware used for the tablet and found it to be somewhat underwhelming. "There is your problem, look at the outdated CPU you are using. New ones have come along in this line with far better performance data."

"Okay, I'm out," said Grif with his hands up in the air. "If anyone else wants to stay here for the nerd talk, have fun."

Grif took one look at Sister however and dragged her out with him. To the very end she went out crying like a child. "This must be like a crime or something to keep the hunk and the cute away from me! Bully!"

Donut looked at his two remaining friends in the room and decided he would only be in the way. _Yeah, I think Simmons will be able to handle it no problem. I think I will go ahead and come up with some plans for the interior redecorating, this place practically is begging for it_.

Just as the door shut, Edwards burst out in excitement exclaiming. "Wow! You are so knowledgeable about this stuff Simmons."

"Oh well it's nothing much."

"But about the CPU, I couldn't find any other so I had to make do with the one Walters gave me."

"Who is Walters?"

"He is like the village's well known architect, engineer and crafts person as he said it. He was the one who taught me about this sort of stuff in the first place. I can still remember the days he would be so stubborn to teach me at the beginning," said Edwards with a wide nostalgic grin. He looked to his side and held up an old looking phone towards Simmons. "See this? This was the very first thing I built together with him."

"Does it work?" asked Simmons pressing a few buttons. _Man the world really has progressed in the way of technology_ , thought Simmons studying the keypad on the phone.

"Well um…," the answer was clear from Edward's hesitation. Simmons didn't push any further as he simply took the phone and in an impressed tone said. "That is amazing!"

"Not as amazing as your knowledge though. I want you to teach me more!"

"Heh, it's not that amazing," Simmons replied and for once he felt he was being very frank. Compared to what Edwards already knew, Simmons wasn't sure on what he could teach the young lad. "But how about we go in search for a better CPU for the tablet first?"

"Okay, we will go to the junkyard on our hunting adventure!"

* * *

Carolina sat at the edge of her bed. Her grip tightened on the bed sheets as she took in a deep breath. From afar Ben watched her hopeful of a speedy recovery. _Here we go_ , she thought as she applied pressure and strength to her muscles. Slowly, but surely they caused her to rise. But just as quickly as she rose, she fell back down to the bed.

 _Still too soon then huh_ , the good doctor pondered walking to the table between Carolina's and Wash's bed. He placed down the grey soldier's helmet and looked to his right with an understanding smile. "That was a good try. Why not give it another go?"

 _Yeah, please do. I would much rather be out of here sooner than later_ , said Epsilon in her head as she smirked. _It has been quite suffocating in this bed lately hasn't it?_ She wondered as she again tried to stand up. Beside her was Elsie, constantly worrying about Carolina falling again. As Elsie reached out for her to have her sit down and rest again, Carolina stopped her midway. "I'm fine mam, really. Please, I need to do this."

Elsie simply backed away understanding the seriousness in Carolina's tone. As Carolina slowly arose, this time she could feel something different about herself. The pain she experienced before eased up. She held her ribs and felt little to no pain at all much to her surprise. _Epsilon, did you do something?_ She questioned. _Hmm? Nothing much, just thought to give you a little helping hand_ , the fragment replied displaying the running healing unit on her HUD.

Carolina smiled gratefully thinking, _I really am helpless right now. Thank you, Epsilon_. She finally managed to stand up straight with little pain feedback from her body. Both Elsie and Ben were delighted to see the progress. Ben walked close to her and gently placed a hand behind her. "Try walking."

"Right," said Carolina slowly taking a step forward. She nearly lost her balance and fell, but Elsie quickly reacted to hold the soldier upright. Carolina felt that she couldn't thank Elsie enough for all the kindness she had shown to her so far. But Elsie was at the same time happy to show this kindness as in a world of dread, everyone needs a dose of happiness. Carolina stood upright again and began walking again with some assistance from Ben and Elsie. Pretty soon she was able to walk on her own again, albeit quite slowly, but still walking on her own.

Elsie clapped her hands together. "Well done Carolina!"

"Yes, well done indeed," said Ben making more notes on Carolina's medical forms. He was relieved to see the soldier up and about again. "I would say that you are good to go, I will start the discharge procedure."

"Discharge, isn't this a little too soon Ben?" asked Elsie with a concerned look. The good doctor smiled back putting her at ease. "Don't worry, as long as she gets her rest and doesn't strain herself too much, she will be just fine."

* * *

Elsie thanked Ben for his utmost care towards his patients and aided Carolina back down into her bed. Elsie scavenged her bag for a plastic box and placed it on a tray. Carolina looked at it curiously just as Elsie placed the tray on her lap awaiting a response. Carolina opened the box and found a stew inside. "I- Is this for me?"

"Yes it is," Elsie replied with a wide smile on her face. She took out a spoon and mixed it a bit for Carolina to enjoy. "I'm sorry that I couldn't bring anything else but we don't get to eat luxuries food ourselves here. I thought the best I could do was make a little extra for you all at least. It should still be warm, so eat up."

Carolina's mouth dropped open from her kindness. _She really is too kind_. Carolina stared at the stew with a solemn look on her face causing Elsie some concern. "Is everything alright dear?"

"You said you don't get much luxurious food to eat, is this really alright then?"

"Don't be silly," Elsie said back with a wave of her hand and a gentle laugh. "If we don't remain kind to one another and help one another when we need to the most, how can we ever hope to continue both as a species and society?"

Carolina felt touched by her words. But there was guilt in her heart to eat the food that she knew Elsie and Edward were limited on already. She took a sip of the stew and her tongue nearly melted in the delicious flavors. She felt her heart rate increase causing Epsilon to question her health. _This stew, it tastes so familiar. It's like I have had this before_.

"How is it?" asked Elsie and saw a tear drop down Carolina's cheek. "Carolina?"

"It tastes is so close to the one like my mother used to make for me as child."

"Oh my," Elsie replied taking out a napkin and wiping Carolina's eye. _Like her mother used to make?_ Elsie pondered sitting back down and gently rubbed the back of Carolina's armor. Even though she couldn't feel the touch, Carolina could still feel the motherly feelings piercing through the armor like a sharpened arrow and into her heart. "I know, how about once you are out of here, you stay with me for a while?"

"Um, wouldn't that cause trouble for the whole village?" asked Carolina getting a hold of herself. "Plus, don't the people here hate the UNSC as well?"

"Many do, but what they hate more is the New Order. As long as they know that you are with me and that I trust you, they will protect you by never letting the New Order know of you and your friends here to them."

"I see," said Carolina feeling a worry lightened off her load. She took another sip of the stew and smiled brightly towards Elsie. The old woman felt her heart brighten as well. _A smile suits you much better than a sad look_. Carolina took the whole case and drank it down causing Elsie to burst out in a gentle laughter. "My, my you must have been famished."

Carolina wiped her mouth quite embarrassed at the display. She set the tray aside hiding her face, which Elsie found to be a cute gesture. "Thank you, it was very delicious."

* * *

"Ugh, what is with that commotion?"

Elsie and Carolina turned to look towards Wash who was stirring awake. He turned to look at the two thinking, _Carolina? We are still alive?_ He looked down at a cast on his leg that prevented him from moving it too much. _That's right, my leg and some of my ribs_. Suddenly Wash felt quite naked noticing the yellow tint of his vision to be missing. He looked at the table between them and there sat his helmet, completely repaired. When he looked at it, there was no sign of damage at all and looked brand new.

Wash slowly sat up with some help from Elsie who quickly introduced herself. He looked at Carolina who gave her affirmations and so he decided to trust her judgement. He thanked her and put on his helmet, the ever so colored view now became a much more comfortable sight for him. He looked at the cast on his leg and found the restrictions to be very annoying, but necessary. He touched the bed sheets and couldn't believe it still. _We managed to make it through that hell and still live. I wonder if there is an angel watching over us_. "That's right, what happened to the rest?"

"Don't worry, they are all safe and sound," said Elsie as she noticed Ben approaching the group. He quickly introduced himself and made some notes on Wash's medical papers. "After we get you up and walking Agent Washington, I should be good to start your discharge. Agent Carolina, I have completed the forms for your discharge so you are free to go."

"Thank you doctor," she said as he left to get a crutch for Washington. Washington sat on the edge of the bed and felt some pain, though not as bad as he thought it would have been. _Guess the doctor was doing his job then_. He looked out the window and found the dreary mood already to be the first of many positive signs that he would enjoy his stay on the planet. "Here we are."

Washington looked up to Ben who was holding out a crutch towards the soldier. Fastening it around his right arm, Wash was helped up by Elsie and Ben and soon even Wash was up and walking about. Elsie clapped her hands together exclaiming. "This is wonderful."

"Yup, two more free beds now and as long as you two follow my instructions down to the letter, then you will recover just fine. Agent Washington, you shouldn't need the crutch for more than three days and since Carolina seems to be doing well enough already, just remember not to strain yourselves. I hope to meet you two when you are both completely healthy and running about," said Ben storing away his glasses with a considerate smile. Elsie thanked Ben for his hard work as did the two soldiers and he bid them due. Elsie turned to the two and told them to decide a time to depart from the hospital. At that time she will gladly come and escort them to their lodgings.

"Thank you again for all your help mam," said Carolina earning a gentle slap on the back of her head. "Don't call me mam, call me Elsie."

"Alright, thank you Elsie."

* * *

Edwards walked happily in front of Simmons with their sought after object in his hands. Simmons was happy for the boy unable to contain it himself. "It should be exciting seeing what happens with the tablet after we put that CPU into action."

"Yeah!" exclaimed the boy. Simmons saw Edwards adjusting the collar on his neck and asked. "If it bothers you that much, couldn't you find a way of taking it off?"

"There is a way already, but no one would dare."

"Why not?"

"There was an adult who took it off, but the moment he unlocked it he was killed."

"Let me guess, by the New Order?" Simmons ventured a guess and confirmed his thoughts to be correct. Edwards looked down at the ground with his lips quivering. "Ever since then, no one even dared to take their collars off. Whenever we were given an order, we all followed it without question if we knew what was good for us."

"That still doesn't seem right though."

"As grandma says it, it's not but that is our way of life. Unless we could somehow change it, nothing will ever change. But sometimes I wonder what can a kid like me do aside from fixing up old broken tech?"

Simmons patted Edwards on the head causing the boy to look up in question. Simmons retrieved his hand and said. "Don't worry. We can all do things only within our capacity. Who knows, someday your ability to fix things may come in handy for someone."

"Hmm…I would much rather be a badass space warrior like you though. I mean imagine flying out in the stars finding bad guys and defeating them to save the day!"

Simmons felt a little blushed at the remark but honestly answered. "I'm not as badass as you think I'm. Also, where did you learn that word from?"

"Grif taught it to me."

 _Guess I will have to have a little chat with him later_ , Simmons pondered as they reached the hospital building. They saw Elsie exiting the building and Edwards ran up to her with his arms wide open. He went in for a hug and she replied with one of her own. The old woman looked up with her everyday warm and caring smile at Simmons. "Thank you for looking after Edwards, he really has seemed to taken a liking to you."

"It was no problem mam," said Simmons bending down to Edwards' level. "After all, us techies gotta stick together right?"

"Yeah!" Edwards replied high fiving Simmons. Elsie laughed at the boy's gestures reminding her of when her daughter was alive and was the same way. "Well, come now Edwards, we best go home. It is nearly dinner time, will you help me prepare?"

"Sure!" he replied waving goodbye to Simmons who did the same. _Maybe I'm the one who seemed to have taken a liking to him_. He stood still in the middle of the street deep in thought and looked towards the hospital doors. "It wouldn't hurt to ask."

* * *

He walked inside to see Carolina and Wash up and chatting away. "Hey guys, it's great to see you two up already."

"Simmons, you are not with the others?" asked Wash surprised to see a lack of Grif around Simmons. The maroon soldier rubbed the back of his head as if embarrassed in a good way to say this. "Yeah, I am kind of stuck looking after Edwards during the day so the others decided to split."

 _Split, that lingo definitely doesn't suit him. I wonder if he picked it up from Edwards_ , Carolina pondered. Simmons took a seat and faced Carolina. "Um I was wondering if I could ask you for a little favor."

"You want a favor from me?"

"Yeah, you see I was hoping that you could give me some training to be a little more like a badass space warrior."

"Woah, what brought this on?" Wash asked nearly jumping in his bed. "Also where was this attitude for training when we were back on Blood Gulch?"

"Well you see, Edwards said I looked like a badass space warrior so…"

"I see," Carolina mused finding Simmons tone to be rather amusing. "You don't want to disappoint the kid. Once I'm out of here, I think I can spare some time Simmons."

"Really? No strings attached?" he asked quite wary of the freelancer. After all, he knew how freelancers worked. Nothing ever came for free from them. She grinned herself causing him to gulp nervously. "No strings attached, after all you will also naturally be my sparring partner as part of your training."

He again gulped feeling his body loosen and melt away. _Mr. Comfort, I bid you goodbye. Hello world of pain, how do you do?_ He wondered frozen still. While still confused about the whole situation, there was one thing Wash was still clear on. _This should be entertaining to watch_.


	8. Stuff my Face

**A/N: I know I don't usually do author's notes in the middle of a story, but since the upload schedule may change (even though its not set in stone anyways), I wanted to inform you the readers. My work schedule will change soon (don't know exactly when), so that means that the usual timing of uploading at 5:00 PM will change to something else once I actually get my schedule. The uploading may also become more erratic depending on the time I get for writing out the chapters.**

 **With that out of the way, thank you for your understanding and hope you continue to enjoy the story :).**

 **~ Monty**

* * *

 **Chapter 7: Stuff my Face**

 _How did I get here like this?_ Carolina pondered as she found herself sitting in front of a table with several ingredients laid out on it. Epsilon suddenly appeared beside her and crossed his arm in an annoyed tone. "Then you shouldn't have opened your mouth about wanting to taste more of those cookies. Just when I thought we were free of confinement. Now we are in a new hell, cooking hell!"

"Stop being so melodramatic Epsilon," said Carolina as she reached out for the various ingredients and mixed them together. She stirred rigorously and saw the mixture settle down. The fragment walked all around her with his arms up in the air and his tone frustrated as ever. "Stop being melodramatic you say, but you are just as irritated as I'm Carolina."

"Maybe," she mumbled observing Elsie enter the kitchen. The elderly woman laid out more ingredients on the table alongside some instruments and got to work on creating the dough. "You have to give it a good bashing to make sure the dough rises up splendidly when in the baking process."

 _She really loves cooking huh_ , Carolina pondered letting out a carefree smile unbeknownst to her. Elsie noticed and smiled back causing Carolina to fluster a little. Epsilon couldn't help but laugh at the comedy sketch taking place. "What are you getting all embarrassed over?"

"Shut up," she replied logging Epsilon off. He did so reluctantly, but before he went away, he took one last bit of pleasure in her childish behavior. _Finally some peace of mind_ , she thought as she brought over the mix to Elsie. The head chef studied it carefully and deemed it to be a pass. "Great job!"

"It's nothing much," Carolina replied rubbing the back of her head with bright red cheeks. _Why do I get so flustered like this around Elsie? Almost like I used to around her_ , thought Carolina setting the mix aside and helping with the dough. Elsie studied Carolina's armor and asked. "Does it not get uncomfortable being in that all the time dear?"

"It did at first, but sooner or later you just feel like it has become a part of you. If I were to take off my armor now unless I needed to, then I would feel something is amiss with my own body."

"You must have been in the military for a long time then."

"Yes, longer than even I could keep count of," replied the soldier as she set out the dough on the baking tray. She made sure to cut them up evenly and create adequate space between each cookie. Elsie studied the full tray and clapped her hands delighted. "Now we can get to the exciting bit, the cooking of the cookies. The oven is ready, so go ahead and place the tray on the second level."

"Yes, Elsie."

As soon as Carolina opened the oven door, she was hit by a hot gust to the face. She could feel her face warm up under the immense heat pressure. It became slightly harder to breath, but she quickly put the tray inside and gently closed the door behind her. Her nose was once again clear and no longer overwhelmed. She wiped the gloves of her armor clean and looked outside. _This planet really is too much of a tragedy_.

Elsie approached the soldier from her right and put down the oven mittens. She looked up with a happy smile and said. "I'm sure your friends will be delighted to see your handmade cookies."

"Delighted…," Carolina thought pondering their reactions. "Maybe, I hope so."

"Don't worry, they will be. After all you have put in so much effort into them," Elsie replied cheering Carolina on. "And even more effort than I have seen of any person who hasn't really cooked before."

"Thank you," Carolina replied with her head down deep into a blush. Elsie helped raise Carolina's face and suggested she go outside for a bit. "I will call you once the cookies are done. You have the communicator right?"

"Yes, right here," Carolina held up a small communication device lent to them all on behalf of the village. Carolina stood up and took her helmet. She fastened it around her neck and walked to the main door. She turned back one last time to see Elsie waving to her. She could not help but grin like a child under her helmet. _This feeling, so familiar and desired but at the same time quite elusive as to what it is. Perhaps it is simple happiness, or something more. But I guess for now I will just enjoy it for what it is_.

* * *

Everywhere he looked it was the same dull colors on the buildings. Through some of the windows, he could tell that the people here lived in no luxury. The stares he would get from others around him accumulated to hate, but a controlled sense of hatred. But whenever he would bring up the New Order, then that hate seemed to test the chains of their control ever so viciously. The once stoic and neutral looks would turn to despise. He would wonder what he did wrong, but he would also just as quickly realize his mistake, and that mistake was to bring up the New Order in their conversations.

As he limped along on the street with the aid of his crutch, he looked inside some of the buildings and saw that people here hardly owned anything. If anything, it seemed more like they were the beings that were owned by the New Order. The collars to instill fear of death and silence any rebellion, the drones that would hover overhead the village at specific times to remind them that the New Order is still alive and very much strong. All of this, it was all a game of fear.

Washington stopped to look at a street full of children playing with a ball. He felt a sense of happiness for them. _At least it's not all doom and gloomy_. Wash looked to his left and saw the good captain approaching. "Captain Muffins, how is your crew?"

"Thanks to the thunder clouds of spite, only our shuttle managed to make it down here where as the rest blew up like fireworks in the sky. Quite pretty to ja, but not so pretty when you see an arm here, and an arm there, all getting fried like an overcooked fish over a campfire."

 _Okay, glad to see his raging insanity hasn't changed_ , thought Wash as he turned back to look at the kids. "So simply put, our situation is kind of bad right now."

"We are fucked."

"Thanks for the words of encouragement. Always the optimist," said Wash sarcastically as he found Muffins staring up at the clouds. Washington studied the lightening inside the clouds and asked. "How bad was it getting down here, you know aside from the crew slaughter?"

"Since we are the only ones who made it down safe and sound, I would say very bad. Our lifeboat is also heavily damaged thanks to the hair grazing escapes we made from direct lightning strikes. But even then, the crew didn't escape without injuries. Too bad about Dave biting the dust, he had a fine ass to."

"I'm afraid to ask but how did he die?"

"He got a pole shoved up his ass."

Wash stared blankly at the deranged captain who shook his shoulders. "I'm serious, it was a big, long, girth-"

"Okay I don't need to hear anymore!"

"Metal pole that dislodged from side of the ship when we got struck by one of the lightning bolts," finished Muffins asking what Wash was actually thinking about. Washington turned to walk away in the direction of the lifeboat with Muffins and asked. "So how many of your crew are remaining?"

"Barely half, thank god Private Boyscout and Buttmunch made it out alright. I don't know who else I would have to bicker with then about onboard ship gossip ja."

"How far off till we get to the ship?"

"It's about ten minutes walk, although with your leg it would be about twenty. We made sure to hide it well from plain sight with some help from the villagers here."

"They actually helped? I was under the impression they let us stay reluctantly and would want us out of here asap."

"They do want that, but thanks to that nice old lady, they decided to help us. The young man known as Edwards has been quite useful in repairing some of the onboard ship systems alongside Walters. I think I shall recruit them into the new Reich order once I take over the universe!"

"Yeah, you do that," mumbled Wash as they walked the rest of the way in silence. As soon as they reached the run down garage used to keep the lifeboat into, Wash was left to stare in shock. He slowly walked closer to the ship and reached out.

* * *

"Don't touch," said a man's voice easily in his late forties. He walked out from the shadows towards Washington as he removed his grease stained gloves. His black hair was neatly cut short and combed. His black eyes stared into Washington's visor with a smirk. "Not a bad job I did if I do say so myself."

Wash turned around to see the man walk past him slowly. He looked all over the surface and stated. "We just finished applying a coating of a chemical compound that will make it easier for us to change the shape of the lifeboat. I would rather not be that all our work goes to waste."

"Ah yes Walters, here is Agent Washington."

"I gathered that from the helmet, after all I did fix it for him."

"Thank you for that," said Wash offering a hand of gratitude. Walters took the hand into a firm handshake and nodded his head in understanding. "It would suck to be a soldier without the whole set wouldn't it? Plus I had free time. It's not like the New Order has a whole lot of use for me now days anyways."

"Aren't you an architect and an engineer? I figure there would be a lot of use for someone like that," said Wash racking his brain against all the reasons why Walters maybe sitting at home without work. Walters walked back around of the ship and close to Wash. "Now where would you have heard that?"

"I picked up a few things here and there after my discharge."

Walters let out a smirk and nodded his head. "Yes, I am an architect and an engineer. But there is not much use for one whose tasks that he was given have all been completed. All he can do is wait until the next project comes along, which will no doubt be during war time."

"What makes you say that?" asked Wash. Walters turned to look at Muffins who shrugged his shoulders at him. "Don't look at me, I didn't tell him anything about that."

"Looks like the knowledge you picked up on the streets then is incomparable to what is really happening Agent Washington," said Walters as he led the soldier to a seating area. "Currently the New Order has several battleships in production. All of which I was in-charge of as far as the engineering and architectural work goes. You could say I was the team lead in those aspects, so once the plans were completed, naturally I was shoved aside to let the factory workers do the rest."

"I heard about these factories before, something about them being used to refine raw minerals used for various things both on the space colony and in the villages. But most of it was used for the space colony, whereas the villages hardly got anything out of it."

"That bit of knowledge is not wrong," Walters confirmed pouring himself a glass of green tea. "We get the leftover scraps to make use of where as the fuckers up in the space station get to live it large. Ever heard the phrase 'the world isn't fair'? Well this is literally that world."

Walters stirred the tea around a bit and offered a cup to Washington. The soldier politely declined. Walters blew some cool air over his cup and felt the aroma spread around the room. _That smells good, just how like she used to make_. Walters took a sip and was taken aback by the taste. _All those hours of practice were well worth it_. He cleared his throat and looked up towards the lifeboat. "So that factory we spoke of. While we are doing this on the down low, as long as everyone cooperates, we should be able to get all the parts we need for that baby right there."

"What happens if you get caught by the New Order?"

"Nothing good," Walters abruptly replied as he took another sip. Wash let out a small sigh from his fatigue and pointed to the ship. "What type of modifications are you making to it?"

"Plan is to help make it stronger, more dynamic and be more protective of its crew to help you fly past the lightning clouds," the older man replied taking another sip from his tea. He looked to his left at the soldier and asked. "What do you think?"

"I think, why are you helping us even if you can get into some serious trouble?"

"Let's just say that the New Order and I don't have a compelling history together. I don't like them, so anyway I can be a pain in their ass subtly is a good thing for me. All of us here considered the possibility that you will just up and leave us here," replied Walters now halfway through the tea. He motioned towards the lifeboat and said. "Whether you help us or not isn't much of a concern to us. We have all learned to live this life of slavery as best we can. I'm just glad to be doing some work again, and work that is not for some slave drivers for a change."

Wash bowed his head surprising Walters. "Thank you for your help. I mean that for all the villagers. Had it not been for any of you, we would have been twenty feet under by now."

* * *

Washington left the garage alone only to see Ben waiting outside for him. "I saw you inside chatting with Walters. I didn't think you would be up and walking about like this so soon."

"I couldn't stay inside all day long."

"Heh, Agent Carolina was like that as well. She was just itching to get out no matter what," said Ben recalling all the times she would nearly throw a fit at her predicament. Wash looked at the preoccupied doctor and asked. "How did things get so bad here?"

Ben looked to his side where he saw a disease ridden man curled up on the road. Ben covered his nose and mouth while walking past. He could definitely relate to these individuals, people suffering for no good reason at all. In fact, most of it can be avoided if only the New Order cared. "We let a group of individuals have too much power. I suppose we are partially responsible for letting things get as bad as they have. But that's not to say we aren't exactly unaware of this and completely helpless."

"Meaning?"

"Let's just say we have a little rebellion of our own growing slowly. Sooner or later we will have a sizeable force to stand up against the New Order."

"What makes you think they can't just activate the collars on their necks and kill them in an instant?"

"We are looking into that. Walters has been particularly helpful, even with all of his alcoholic habits and issues."

"He didn't come off as an alcoholic to me," said Wash looking back towards the garage. Ben shook his head. "Don't let appearances fool you. The poor man has been drowning his sorrows in the bottle practically every night ever since the incident with the New Order. In one of their so called population control methods, he ended up losing his wife who happened to also be pregnant with their child."

Wash stopped for a moment realizing the enormous emotional weight that could have on a man's mind. _So it's more than just being a pain in the ass for him_. "How does he manage to cope with something like that throughout the day?"

"Who knows for sure? I just know that he cooks things the way his wife used to cook them. I suppose it's a way for him to keep her memory alive. But back to your original question," said Ben looking up at the clouds. "Those clouds I suppose were the beginning of everything that indicated the downfall of our civilization on this planet. To make such a decision as to split us on where we stand against the UNSC, then use that as a point to manipulate the thoughts of others and create a divide that spans between a planet and a space colony is something magnificent on this large scale, but sad to see it be used for this destructive purpose."

"Didn't anyone try to stand up against Equal in the time he was given power?"

"Not really," Ben cleared his throat remembering back to the very first slaughter. "When there was a group at one time, they were easily mowed down by the New Order that had amassed greater numbers and strength through various methods. That was also a time when we didn't have these collars."

"I presume those rebellious actions only played a role in further strengthening the concept of these collars?"

"I wouldn't say that's wrong, but even I don't know for sure," admitted the good doctor as they arrived at the hospital building. He turned to look at Wash's leg and smiled. "Don't overdo it now you hear? I have to get back to work. After all, when is there a shortage of pain and sickness in the villages all across the planet? Hopefully we get to chat again soon Agent Washington."

"Sure doc, thanks for the info," Wash replied seeing Ben walk back into the building. He let out a heavy sigh and pondered. _Just what kind of a mind would be so obsessed with revenge that they would be willing to create such a distorted society like this one? To ruin the lives of millions in the process of said revenge_.

* * *

Simmons hit the ground hard grunting. He could feel his whole body shaken just from the few sets of punches he received. Carolina stretched her arms thinking, _that was a good stretch_. "Get up Simmons, we are just getting started. We are going to get serious now."

"Get serious? Weren't you already serious when you were beating the crap out of me?"

"That was only me at a novice level," she answered jumping back and forth her spots. She could feel the energy building in her body with each jump she made. "Now it's time for the real training to begin. If you really want to be that badass Edwards sees you as then get serious about this."

 _Even though I already am_ , he pondered slowly picking himself up. He stretched his neck and heard a few cracks echo through his ears. _Just how am I supposed to get serious against a tank like her?_

She stared at him and he stared back. The two kept at it with the staring contest for a good three minutes. "Come on Simmons, just staring at me won't make me lose you know. Try throwing a punch why don't you?"

Agitated by her words he went in for a hit from her right. He swung wide and was quickly countered. She stopped his punch mid-swing, held him by the right arm and chest. She swung him overhead and caused him to land hard on his back. She smirked under her helmet walking around the maroon soldier. "This isn't good enough you know."

 _Oh you are totally enjoying this aren't you?_ Epsilon asked with a smug tone. She couldn't help but admit that she was taking some pleasure in this. Simmons slowly picked himself up rubbing his back. _I don't think I have been this sore since basic boot camp training_. "Okay, so you are pretty good I will admit."

"Oh-hoh don't try to smooth talk your way out of this mister," Carolina replied quickly manoeuvring behind him. "You are the one that asked for this."

She locked his ankle with hers and twisted it under the pressure of her foot. She moved fast to exploit this opportunity to its fullest. She held Simmons' back with one hand and elbowed his chest with the other arm. _This is still not good enough_ , she pondered as she stared at her own hands. Epsilon suddenly appeared besides her suggesting that they should take a break. "No, we can still go on. Isn't that right Simmons?"

He suddenly froze up with her direct attention onto him. He fidgeted in his spot unable to speak clear words. Epsilon again interfered. "Come on Carolina, cut the guy some slack. He has already had enough knuckle sandwiches for one day as it is, taking a small break won't hurt."

With a heavy sigh she caved into the request. "Fine, but you only get five minutes to rest Simmons. After that we are going back at it again, understood?"

"Yes," he replied with his shoulders slumped and muscles aching all over. He slowly limped away to a quiet corner under the pitiful gaze of Epsilon. "Man, I didn't know you were capable of beating your own trainees to a pulp like this on their very first day."

"If I'm too soft on him now, it won't help him see the reality of how weak he is and how much he needs to improve," said Carolina stretching her legs. Epsilon slid in besides her. "Speaking of limitations, shouldn't you be calling it quits for today? I mean I can only keep running your healing unit only for so long before you are on your own."

"I will be fine."

"Says you, why don't think about the guy doing the hard work running the healing unit?"

Carolina let out an irritated sigh as she looked in Simmons' direction who was busy trying to relax his aching muscles. "To think that he managed to survive this long even if they all worked together so well. But he definitely does have potential, no doubt about that."

"Hey Carolina," called Epsilon as she looked at him from the sides of her eyes. "The real reason you are being so hard on Simmons is because you want to become stronger isn't it?"

"What makes you say that?"

"Uh how about the fact that you keep on thinking about that nightmare you had when you were in the hospital? How about the fact that you keep on thinking about how weak you are?" Epsilon asked in an investigative tone as he folded his arms. "Just because I'm not the Church you knew, doesn't mean that I can't peer into your thoughts just like he could. Any fragment or AI would be able to look into your mind and tell the same thing."

"I…," Carolina wanted to refuse such allegations. But the problem was that he was right. "Yes, I have been thinking about how weak I am. If I weren't so weak then maybe we wouldn't be in this situation. If I was stronger than I am, Wash wouldn't have gotten hurt. So for the sake of protecting others, I have to get stronger."

"Is strength all that goes through your head?'

"I have to be the best regardless of your opinions Epsilon. I have to in order to keep my promise to my family. What good does my existence serve if I can't even keep one simple promise to those I care about the most?"

Epsilon thought about it for a moment but had no response. Instead he simply put himself into sleep mode. _That's what I thought_. Carolina looked at Simmons and approached him. "Alright, your five minutes are up."

 _Yay…_ , thought Simmons as he slowly stood up. His legs ached to the point where they felt like they would just fall apart with one push from the wind. Carolina again raised her fist only to be quickly interrupted by her communicator. She looked at the small device and received the call. "Hello?"

"Carolina, it's me Elsie. I wanted to let you know that the cookies are done so if you would like to come and see them."

"I will be there, thank you Elsie."

 _Oh thank god_ , thought Simmons falling down to the ground. Carolina looked at the maroon soldier with the shake over head. "You need to strengthen that resolve of yours Simmons. I would hate to see Edwards' disappointed face just as much as you would."

"Yes mam," he mumbled just feeling relieved to end training for the day and she helped him up. With the support of the buildings, he walked back to Elsie's place. Carolina looked all around and everyone was already gathered up. Elsie walked out of the kitchen and called for Carolina who quickly followed. _Why does my heart feel like its beating faster for a bunch of cookies I made with the help of Elsie?_

* * *

"They turned out well wouldn't you say?" Elsie commented pointing to the cookies. Carolina leaned in close to smell the odor and was quite satisfied. "Yes, I wonder what the others would think."

 _I wonder indeed, but what I wonder more about is how I have become like this in such a short time. I want to do more things together with everyone else, and to value our time together. Is this because of the experiences that have shaped me or me wishing to do this of my own volition?_ Carolina wondered fetching the icing for the cookies and began pouring them over. She skillfully moved her hands over the cookies creating her desired pattern.

Elsie took the empty containers and utensils for cleaning. As the elder cleaned away merrily Carolina found herself staring at her. _But what's more curious is how being around Elsie makes my chest feel so heavy. It is a familiar feeling that I got around her whenever she would come home and spend a few days with us. It's just like how I felt with mother_.

"Here we are, all ready," said Elsie placing the last cookie on the tray. She went out of the kitchen leaving Carolina alone to wonder about these feelings. _Just why do I feel like this? We are in the middle of fighting for our survival, worrying about half of our group stuck on the space station and here I am feeling like this. Why does the human mind work like this?_

"So Carolina made these?" Wash asked and picked one up studying it closely. _It looks normal. Maybe trying it wouldn't be so bad_ , he thought as so did the others. Donut was ecstatic to finally eat something sweet after such a long time since he left Blood Gulch. Grif was happy to simply stuff his face in anything that could be classified as junk food. Sister was a little jealous to see Carolina make cookies like this thinking, _you will not take Simmons away with this from me! I shall reign supreme with the hot guy!_

Simmons looked at the others with his head down in the dumps. _How can they think about eating? Ugh, body please recover quickly_. Muffins took one into his mouth and felt the dough melt with each bite. The chocolate dressing wasn't as bad as he had anticipated either. "Hmm, not bad. This is quite delicious, but I would say that it is quite heavy on the suga- blargh!"

"What happened? I just heard some noise!" Carolina said rushing out of the kitchen. Sister looked over at Muffins who fell down while foaming at the mouth. "Nazi dude! Hang in there!"

"Um…so should we call a doctor?" asked Grif hiding the fact he was putting down the cookie he picked up. Wash mused at the foaming look Muffins had on about him and said. "Nah, I'm pretty sure there will be no permanent damage done to him regardless."

"Help! Someone give me mouth to mouth CPR, preferably the very attractive scary hot freelancer lady...blergh!"

"Yup, no damage done in the long run at all," said Wash with a wide grin. That day everyone came to an agreement on something very important to their survival. That was to never let Carolina near a kitchen ever again, she was a terrible cook.


	9. Let's go on a Hunt

**Chapter 8: Let's go on a Hunt**

Everywhere Simmons looked, he saw huge piles of junk. No one pile was taller than the other, almost as though the junkyard was closely monitored and regulated. Simmons caught wind of Edwards climbing up one of the piles. _Does he really go through this hassle everytime he wants something for his gadgets?_ Edwards held out a small fan up in the air and Simmons nodded. "That will work just fine!"

"Okay, here it comes!" Edwards threw the fan down towards the soldier who caught it. He could still feel some muscle ache from yesterday's training with Carolina. He stood up straight feeling every ounce of his muscles shout at him for being so stupid as to provoke Carolina at every chance he could get. _But I'm improving, so there is that positive I suppose_. Simmons held up the list of parts they needed and shouted. "Okay, let's try finding a casing unit next."

Edwards hopped from one pile to another like Tarzan would amidst the trees. _He really is something to be this agile and tough at such a young age_. Simmons looked down at his list and found that there weren't very many parts left to be obtained. Simmons gently put down the fan with the other parts neatly organized in an open area and went back to Edwards. The young boy was already holding out quite a sturdy looking case. _He is fast_ , thought Simmons as he studied the find in detail.

"Alright, throw it down!" shouted Simmons ready to catch the moderately sized object. Edwards nodded his head leaning outwards. With a tight grip on one of the objects to his side and leaned at an angle, he held out the case with the other struggling arm. It was clear to Simmons that Edwards wouldn't be able to keep this up for long. "Don't push yourself too hard! Forget the case if you can't do it!"

"No I can do it. I can-"

Simmons' eyes widened as Edwards lost his grip and began freefalling. _Oh no!_ Simmons ran towards the pile and began climbing upwards. He looked at the falling boy whose face was covered in terror. Edwards' lips quivered in fear and a moment later so did his voice. _Eta, calculate trajectory and take control of the jets!_ Simmons ordered of the fragment coming so close to reaching Edwards, but missing his hand entirely. Simmons jumped off from the pile and with the help of his suit's jet, he reached Edwards in time and managed to land safely back onto the ground. Simmons could feel Edwards tremble in his arms as he felt some relief settle in.

Edwards opened his eyes and bit his lips. He could feel pain. He was still alive and delighted to know so. Simmons brushed some dirt off of Edwards' face and asked. "Are you alright?"

Edwards gripped tighter onto Simmons' arm. The maroon soldier looked down at the boy with a confused mind. _What should I do in this situation? I have never had to look after a kid like this before_. Simmons bent down and patted the boys head. "Um, you are safe now so please calm down?"

Edwards caught his breath ever so slowly, and calmed his heart. He looked up with a saddened face and pointed to the case. "I'm sorry, it's all ruined now."

Simmons took a look at the pieces that lay spread out on the ground. Some of the case was still intact but mired with cracks and dents. _Can't do anything about that now_ , Simmons pondered as he turned back to Edwards and patted his head. "Don't worry about that, the important thing is that you are safe."

"But what will we do about our very first official project together?"

"We can always find another case for the computer."

"But it won't be as good," Edwards said bowing his head down in anguish. Simmons patted the young boy's head and bent down with a cheery tone. "Edwards, losing a case is nothing compared to losing you. Like I said, we can always find another case. Even if it's not as good, then that only means that you will have something to improve on it as time goes on now won't it? So cheer up, if not for me then how about for your grandma?"

Edwards slowly raised his head and a wide smile grew on it. He nodded his head in understanding and said. "I promise to be very careful from now onwards."

 _I let him off too easy now didn't I? Maybe I should have scolded him or something_. Simmons rubbed the back of his neck to see the broken case and thought. _But that was a pretty damn good case. Oh well, we will just have to find another. Too bad the machine won't be able to handle Windows 10. I suppose getting my hands on Linux out here will be tricky as well_.

"Come on Simmons! Let's take a look in this pile next!" Edwards exclaimed pointing to his left. Simmons ran towards the young lad and watched the boy again climb up like a monkey. _I guess we will cross that bridge when we get to it_.

* * *

Equal looked at the daily reports with a heavy sigh. He gripped the edge of his table with his free hand while looking at the numbers and comments with the other. _Even after all the resources we pour into the ongoing investigations for the simulation troopers, we still have no results. All we know of are sightings of our targets who manage to erase their evidence long before we arrive on the scene. Just how am I supposed to face Pure's family like this? How am I supposed to face the thousands of citizens who have placed so much faith in us?_

Equal stood up and threw down the reports in frustration. _They have one hell of a guardian angel watching over them_. He looked out the office window and rested his head against it. He in growing frustration punched the glass alerting the guard outside. She gently knocked on the office door and entered seeing the mess of reports on the floor. She could see his worn out and weak side. Equal looked back to her from the side of his eyes and looked back outside. "What do you want Justice?"

"I want to talk about you and your behavior."

"My behavior, what issues are there with it?"

"Look Equal," she began walking towards the reports. She bent down to collect them all. "I know things aren't going well on some fronts, but they are on others. I know you are stressed with so many things and this may not be the best time but I figured it was something that needed to be asked. Why are you so distant from your closest of comrades lately?"

"What makes you spout such ridiculous nonsense?" Equal questioned back. Justice put the reports on his table and walked closer. She pointed a finger at his chest and said. "How about the fact that you don't even communicate with Truth and me outside of work anymore, or even that you hardly talk to us on duty? Did you really think that no one would notice? In fact it was Truth who first pointed this out, I didn't make much of this but ever since Pure's funeral you have been somewhat weird. You only talk to us when you need to or have no other choice, otherwise you will ignore us like we don't even exist."

"Just because I haven't been talking much with you two doesn't mean I am ignoring you," Equal quickly replied trying to justify his actions. But it was abundantly clear that even he didn't believe in the answer as much as he would have liked to fool the others into thinking. Justice backed off shaking her head and asked. "Why are you being so distant from us all?"

 _Why am I being distant?_ Equal pondered creating a silence between the two. He looked away to his side with one arm gripping the other by the elbow. Justice took note of this, a sign of weakness perhaps. He found his mind lacking in what to say, so instead he said the first thing that came to his mind. "I guess I am like that because of Pure's and Locus' death. People I respected and trusted the most, both of who due to circumstanced had to fight one another and both died in the end. I guess I just don't want to experience the pain of loss anymore."

Justice looked at Equal with a look of pity in her eyes. She rested an arm on his shoulder and with the best smile she could muster she said. "Pure's death was indeed tragic and sad. From my perspective I can't say the same for Locus, but at the same time it has to be understood that people come and go. In our line of work, you never know what will happen to us tomorrow. But what is most important are the memories you cherish that you worked hard on creating with others."

Equal looked at Justice surprised by her words of wisdom. "I never thought of you to be quite the thinker Justice."

She quickly landed a soft blow to his left temple. "Did I come off as a docile bimbo then? That's mean of you, and for that you are going to give me two hundred push-ups during our next training session."

He rubbed his cheek and looked back out the window while resting his other side of the face on the glass. The cool feeling of the glass sank deep into his scarred skin. The silence was unnerving to Justice as she wondered what was going on through his head. He looked back at her with a rather stoic and yet again distant look. "Is there anything else that you needed?"

 _No_ , she thought as she folded her arms. "Why keep on acting like this Equal? It doesn't do anyone any good. Instead why not focus on working as a team?"

He turned back to look out the window. After a good ten minutes of silence, Justice felt her resolve weaken a little. Her shoulders slumped and she left the complicated man in peace. Equal looked towards the door just as it happened to close and pondered. _Memories huh, but what if I can only remember the bad ones thanks to all this unwelcomed stress? What do I do when all my memories seem to bring me is grief?_


	10. Factory Investigation

**Chapter 9: Factory Investigation**

"Here we are," said Walters just as Wash climbed down the last step. He kept his crutch high up in the air as he slowly walked. There was still a little limp to his walking, but for the most part one wouldn't be able to tell that he ever broke his leg in the first place. He walked to where Walters stood and stared in the direction his escort pointed into. Before them stood a giant factory emitting nauseous fumes into the sky, and even from ground level they felt a little sick breathing them in.

"How do people even work in these conditions?" asked Wash and caught Walters laughing to himself. "What's so funny?"

"You think we have a choice of working in the conditions we want? It's either you do the work or get your head blown off."

 _Harsh_ , Wash pondered looking back towards the factory and saw that it was in quite a bit of disrepair. He placed the tip of the crutch on the ground feeling a bit of pain shoot up in his leg. "How do people survive in the fumes?"

"The inside of the factory is regulated with an air filter so it is safe to breathe in there. But for extra safety, we are generally given a gas mask. After all they can't afford to lose their slave force now can they?"

 _I suppose they can't_. Wash looked inside the factory and could tell that there was some intensive industrial work taking place. He began to walk towards the factory only to be stopped by a tight grip on his shoulder pad. Wash looked back towards Walters who looked at the soldier with a concerned face. "I wouldn't go in there. Me bringing you here is risky enough as it is, but going in there is practically suicide. If you are caught, not only will you suffer the consequences, but your friends and the whole village will as well."

"I may not be as good as Carolina, but trust me Walters," said Wash gently releasing Walter's grip. "I can hold my own pretty damn well."

Walters reluctantly let the soldier go further towards the factory. "Remember, if you screw up then we ain't responsible for your friends."

Wash simply waved back as a statement of understanding. Walters shook his head thinking, _crazy bastard. But then again what is youth without a little bit of insanity and foolishness involved?_ The older man walked away with his head down and a hood covering it. _I hope you find what you are looking for Agent Washington_.

* * *

Washington approached the factory doors and felt a sudden rush of heat wash him over. _What a great time to be in this armor_ , he thought walking inside. The first thing he could see were several entry points, all created to scan for any inbound prohibited items. He looked for a way around and managed to squeeze himself through to the other side somehow. Once on the other side, he looked all around himself and found that some pathways led to the various locker rooms while others led to various departments of the factory.

 _Should I begin my search in the engineering department, or the information systems one, maybe I should start in the industrial department_. He stepped forward and turned right. _I guess I will try the industrial area first_. He walked through the various hallways trying to keep out of sight of any workers. The next sight caused him to come to a complete standstill. Before him were several large structures that were very slowly moving on an assembly line. By the assembly line was a smoldering hot pool of molten steel. The heat made it almost unbearable for him to be there. _Thank god for air conditioning_ , he thought activating a few cooling units in the suit.

"Hey you," Wash turned to face the direction of the voice. It was a factory worker fast approaching him. "What are you doing here? You are not supposed to be here!"

 _Oh great, so much for my stealth_. Wash quickly jumped on top of the worker to silence him. The worker was clearly frightened by this display. Washington looked to his right and saw that all the objects on the assembly line were same. They seemed somewhat complete but had some exterior plating missing from the overall image. Wash looked back to the worker and motioned for him to remain quiet. "Don't try to run and just answer my questions. What are those things?"

The worker slowly stood up, he suddenly turned around to run but was stopped by a tight grip on his arm. The worker let out a grunt in agitation. He struggled against the grip but soon learned it was a losing battle against the soldier. Wash further restrained the other arm and said. "Make this easy on yourself and just cooperate."

"I am not sticking my neck out like that!"

Wash applied some pressure on the arms causing pain to shoot up in them. He kneed the worker down to the ground and asked. "How about now, feel like talking?"

The worker remained quiet. Wash started to run out of patience. He turned the worker towards himself and pointed towards the objects on the assembly line. "Answer me and I will let you go. What exactly is that structure?"

The worker turned to look at what Wash was pointing at and his eyes widened. _So this is what the final design looks like. Smoothly shaped and at first glance quite harmless, yet it is a terrifying force of war_. His mouth dropped open under his mask as he slowly stood up. "I never thought I would get to see it in its entirety."

"What do you mean by that?"

The worker quickly turned to look at Washington suddenly alert. He pulled away and began to run in the other direction opposite to Wash. The soldier chased after him, but he could feel the immense fatigue in his healing leg which caused him to slow down more so by the seconds. He instead resorted to his last measure. Wash threw his crutch at the worker causing them both to fall down. Wash managed to get back up rather quickly to see the worker struggling in pain in his lower back. Wash limped over and picked up his crutch. "I warned you not to run."

Wash stepped on the man's back causing him more grief. "Okay, I will talk! Just please, promise me that you won't mention that you ever learned of this from a factory worker."

"You have my word," Wash replied easing off of the man's back. He helped the worker up and again pointed to the objects on the assembly line. "So, what is that?"

"Those are battleships, I don't know what they will be used for but all I know is that they are being given top priority right now in terms of labor usage."

"How long has this been going on for?"

"I don't know, maybe a month or more."

 _Ships for the war effort I presume. So he has already begun to make his move with actual intentions of waging war against the UNSC_. Wash let out a sigh as he looked back to the ships with a frown. _What a sad man, to be blessed with so much power and resources, but he decides to waste it all away on revenge. A pursuit that will not end well for anyone involved. Instead he could have used it to spread awareness and help the people of Earth see what goes on beyond the planet's borders_.

Suddenly an alarm went off in the factory and he looked down at the worker whose eyes widened. "They are here."

"Who is here?" Wash inquired determined to get an answer out of him. The soldier began to shake and squirm against Wash's grip. "Let go, I have to get back or else they will kill me!"

"Who is here?!"

"Truth and his lackeys are here!"

Wash let the worker go in fear of causing another death. The deaths at the space station were not forgotten as the horrified expressions of the citizens still remained fresh in his mind. Wash quickly ran to hide in the best spot he could find and hoped for the best that he would not be found out.

* * *

On the helipad in the village, a New Order transport ship landed down slightly disturbing the everyday routine there. Two New Order soldiers left the ship making way for their commander. Truth exited the ship behind them and looked all around. "Even now this place is a heap of shit. I just don't understand why the boss wanted to create the factory out here. Seriously, not cool."

Truth let his helmet fold out over his head to help cover up the various smells. He motioned for his two escorts to follow him and went through the streets in a small car. After some driving, they finally managed to reach the factory much to his frustration. _Who the hell was the designer for this town? If I find him, I may as well be the one to kill him_.

The group climbed downwards towards the factory and walked inside. They looked all around and things seemed to be in order. He walked into the factory manager's office and greeted him rather abruptly. "Now that the pleasantries are out of the way, let's get this crap over with."

"Uh yes sir," said the factory manager making an announcement. Soon the other two soldiers left to gather everyone up in one spot.

"Get in line for inspection you scrubs!" shouted one of the armored soldiers of the New Order. Every present worker scrambled to gather into a line standing side by side. They all gulped nervously as they all knew the consequences for failing these inspections, death.

Truth swung the door open and the factory manager followed behind him with his back hunched and head low, it was a sign of humility. They all wondered if they were lacking in the numbers the New Order expected. Truth looked all around himself and at the battleships. "Quite the impressive feat you have achieved factory manager. But I gotta say, it simply isn't good enough. Remember, those are _his_ words, not mine. So basically I was sent here to tell you all to haul ass and get this done."

They all quietly breathed a sigh of relief to see that Truth was only here to deliver a warning. It was not as bad as actually going through with an in-depth inspection that always ended up eliminating at least one worker from the group.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"What the fuck?" one of the workers said in a state of panic. His collar was beeping. The worker looked up towards Truth who was in the midst of activating other collars. This time a collar on a middle aged woman began to beep. Soon the sounds of multiple collars echoed throughout the hall. The factory manager quickly approached with sweat built up on his forehead and a shocked expression painted onto his face. "Sir, what is the meaning of this?"

"Consider this just a little push to do better next time," said Truth as those whose collars were going off began to break formation and run in panic. "Again, orders from the big man, not me. If it were me, I would have probably gotten one of your ears cut, but I guess the boss is even more ruthless than I am. And on behalf of his permission, feel free to start using kids for factory work since you will be lacking in manpower soon."

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several explosions echoed in the room. The once dull grey floor was painted in a dark shade of crimson red. The workers that were left alive stared in horror as they slowly started to lose composure. All around them were bodies, and there was no easy route out of this little boundary of bodies. Wash looked on in horror from his hiding spot. He had to struggle to hold himself back. _This is madness_.

Truth turned to leave but noticed the small tip of Wash's crutch on the ground. He found the shape to be curious and looked back at the factory manager. "You are not hiding anything from yours truly now are you?"

"What do you mean?' the man asked wiping his forehead. His eyes were still fixated on the bodies on the ground. The shock was becoming very real. Truth shook his head and walked towards the strange object. Wash took notice and quickly hid himself further down the thin hiding spot. He luckily evaded Truth's sights in time. Truth stared into the darkness with a curious gaze. He looked all around, forward, bottom, up, left and right and found no clues of the strange object's whereabouts. Wash held his breath and felt his heart beat raise. He found it suffocating to stand in this narrow dark spot for so long. _Please just go away_ , he thought slowly releasing his breath. He then again silently took in a deep breath.

 _Hmm…maybe it was my imagination_. Truth turned to walk back to his fellow soldiers. He turned around to the factory manager one last time before leaving with his fellow soldiers and said. "Consider this your final warning from him."

Several horrified screams could be heard in the aftermath of the incident. The factory manager was left helpless to calm the workers, but even he too was frozen in shock and only one thought crossed his mind over and over again. _They are monsters_.

* * *

Outside the factory, Truth stretched his arms and thought to himself. _That was one hell of a bloodbath. I wonder how he manages to come up with these various forms of torture everytime. The workers will be shivering in their boots now no doubt, heh some may even be pissing themselves right about now_. Truth walked forward and activated his communication module. On the other side of the line he heard Justice finally pick up after two minutes of trying to connect. "Hey Justice, I'm done here."

She remained quiet. From the silence he could tell that she didn't like this one bit. Truth retracted his helmet and let out a heavy sigh once far enough from the factory's fumes. "Look, I know what you are thinking and it's understandable. But we have to do these things to make these people give us what we need."

She remained quiet. Truth let out another heavy sigh and rubbed the back of his hair. He looked towards the village and flexed his forehead muscles. _My head aches from all this crap_. He looked back at the communication line and asked. "How is Equal doing?"

"Not much better than before."

"You had a talk with him like we discussed you would right?"

"Yes," she answered in a low tone. She felt powerless to help. Truth could tell the talk did not go well from the way Justice spoke. He stretched his back and said. "Justice, we need him to get better. This distant treatment towards us is getting old real fast. Plus the big boss needs to be in top notch condition to lead us into war. If a leader so distant as Equal leads us, then he will not be bearing any fruits of salvation in the coming war, but the rot our own demise."

"I know," Justice bit back. "I know…"

"Then we need to act on it real fast, it doesn't matter if we have to force this onto him. Remember why we did this from the very start, remember our goals Justice."

Justice cut the call and looked out towards the planet. _Our goals…but I wonder if Equal thinks about our goals the same way as we do, or if he plans on doing this all by himself now_.


	11. Their Life or Yours

**Chapter 10: Their Life or Yours**

Equal stared at the reports in front of him. His eyes were devoid of any enthusiasm he once had in his role. The drive to move forward together as a group of survivors seemed to be slowly drying. Even his breathing was barely audible to the point at which he seemed to be like a sitting statue. Those in front of him felt a cold sweat trickle down their faces.

Everyone in the room could tell that the look on Equal's face was less than that of being pleased. He had every reason to be as angry and agitated as he was before during these meetings, and sadly it seems they have given him a reason yet again. He put down the report while resting his forehead in one palm. His mind was in disarray. The others looked at one another with great concern, and in the back of their minds were the same thoughts. _We need to find a way of getting out of here as soon as possible. Staying here with him like this will bring us nothing good_.

The youngest in the room, the newest staff member finally spoke up. "Sir we are sorry for the bad results."

 _Idiot, don't go saying it like that!_ The other two senior staff members thought. Equal slammed his hands on the table. He glared up at the three before him who all bowed their head immediately. "I'm considering disbanding your investigation unit. You have all failed to meet my expectations, as well as those of several others."

"But sir-"

"No but, you insufferable slobs! You eat up our resources and churn out nothing in the end. What do you have to show for all the faith the people put into you? Do you know how many people lost their family in that suicidal attack by the Blood Gulch troopers?! All those people looked up to you, they hoped that you would be those that finally find and serve the much needed justice and yet here we are," Equal spoke slowly standing up. He formed a fist on his desk and looked down at the floor. "You were all failures to the end. Your incompetency knows no bounds."

"But please sir, just give us one more chance," the youngest member again spoke, and he bowed down to Equal in an effort to make the man reconsider. Equal walked to the young man and held him up by his hair. "To bow your head so easily is a sign of weakness I don't tolerate. I am disgusted by such behavior, especially when it is also coming from the two senior members here."

Equal walked back around to his chair and sat down. He threw the reports in front of the staff members and ordered the following. "Get out of my office and start looking for another task to report to from tomorrow onwards. Your unit will be disbanded soon."

"But please, just give us another chance!" argued the youngest one again. The senior staffs were growing both tired and irritated by such pleas. They all wanted to keep on working on this case, none of them wanted to let their enemy get away with what they did. They all believed that this was a necessary case worth fighting for. Equal looked at the seniors and asked. "Is this what you teach our young? To beg for things when something unexpected happens? No wonder the will of our people is going down the drain."

"Please sir," finally one of the senior staff begged. "It may be wrong for us to beg like this but we all believe that this is a case worth fighting for. No one on the team wishes to fail, no one wants to let them walk away so freely."

Equal stood up and drew a gun from under the desk. He pointed it at one of the senior staff members. He inched closer and rested the barrel on the head of that person. "Why the hell should I trust you people after all the broken promises?"

"We know we have failed you many times sir."

"So why should I believe you this time?"

"Because this time we will risk our very lives at solving this case," said the senior staff member. He looked at his senior colleague who nodded his head. "Please, if we fail again then you may do as you please with us two, but leave the others out of it."

Equal found himself cracking a small grin and retrieved his gun. "Interesting proposal, so it's either their life or yours. Well if that's the case, in the end the people will have a corpse. Fine, I accept. But remember gentlemen, you have placed your lives on the line of your own free will and I intend to make use of the opportunity to its fullest."

The staff members all looked shaken as they all gulped. Equal turned around to sit back down into his chair and stored his gun away. He looked at the three still standing in his office. "Collect your reports and leave already. You have work to do, and remember that you now work on borrowed time. So look harder, and think harder about this case. Failure will not be accepted again. Understood?"

"Yes sir," they all replied and left the office. Justice could tell the meeting did not go well from the sweat on their face and their weak walking posture. She had managed to hear the whole thing and came to worry even more about Equal now. _The life of the simulation troopers or the life of our own people, what have you gotten yourself into Equal?_

* * *

Samuels stretched his arms as he let out a rather loud yawn. The whole base looked in his direction. Tucker looked at the tired man who slumped in his chair and asked. "What's the deal with you? You didn't get much sleep or something?"

"Yeah, I was up all night," Samuels replied collecting a few documents together. Tucker waited a while for Samuels to continue that sentence. There was only silence. Tucker looked at some of the documents Samuels was collecting and they had something to do with a data center. "What were you doing up all night?"

"I was planning a raid on a data center."

"Oh that sounds kind of fun," Sarge interjected suddenly taking an interest in the conversation. Caboose followed the red leader asking. "What is the raid for? Is it to throw a surprise party? Because I love parties, so does Freckles. Don't you Freckles?"

"Yes, Captain Caboose."

Doc suddenly switched to O'Malley and said. "The only surprise party I would approve of is the one where everyone explodes into many little parts at the end as a grand way of ending the party, whahahaha!"

"Seriously dude, get a psychological check up done," Tucker shot back with Doc replying. "No need to worry, since I am a medic who has studied human psychology, I can do one on myself."

"Would that even count?" asked Sarge. Doc thought about it for a moment and shrugged his shoulders. "Who knows? All I know is that I'm perfectly A-ok, at least that is what the voices in my head tell me."

"Are they nice voices?" Caboose questioned with great interest. "Maybe those voices and I can be friends. I love making new friends."

"Yeah, I am not even going to go into how nuts that sounds," Tucker said back as he turned to face Samuels again. "Why do you need to raid a data center?"

"The plan right now is to raid for some very precious data kept at a pretty secretive level within the New Order. Such data will no doubt help our cause," Samuels replied as he stretched his wrists. "You guys don't need to worry too much about this stuff. I already have a team ready to go on this task. All that remains is the coordination amongst us."

Tucker looked back at the crew who all nodded and then looked back to Samuels. "What if we volunteered to help?"

"You guys want to help?" Samuels questioned crossing his arms together. He raised an eyebrow at the offer and asked. "Okay, what gives? What are you guys getting out of this?"

"We aren't getting anything out of this," Tucker replied as Sarge and the others agreed. "We just want to be able to pay back Equal as much as possible for not only being the cause of Locus' death, but also splitting up our group who we don't even know if they are alive or not."

"I'm sure they are alive Tucker," Samuels replied back placing a hand on Tucker's shoulder. Tucker shrugged it off. "Says you, we don't really know what the truth is."

"But all we can do is believe," Sarge said back. He still kept his belief strong of having faith in their survival. "We will meet again. If I know my boys as well as I think I do, then we will definitely meet again. Plus, Wash and Carolina are resourceful enough to survive on their own and still look out for others."

"Sarge, can you really say that with confidence?" Tucker questioned looking at the red soldier. "Especially when one is a lazy slob who just so happens to have a hot but brain dead sister, the other guy is a complete nerd who can't work under pressure. Let's not forget about Donut, because Donut is just…Donut."

Samuels stopped Tucker from rambling on anymore and said. "Fine, you guys can join in. But remember, this is a coordinated mission so every move that is made is done so with my instructions. I don't need any brave heroics from any of you."

"Why are you just looking at me when you say that?" Tucker asked shaking his arms. Samuels shook his head and looked back to his plan. "No particular reason."

"So when do we do this?" Doc inquired looking at the plans Samuels presented the whole crew with. Samuels scratched the back of his head and let out another yawn. He felt his fatigue catch up to him and weakly he said. "Tomorrow, so rest up, I know I'm going to be hitting the sack soon myself."

The Blood Gulch Crew all looked at one another and again nodded. _Get ready Equal, because when you messed with us, you dug your own grave_.


	12. Growing Bonds & Family

**Chapter 11: Growing Bonds & Family**

Simmons attached the last set of cables into the computer and tested to make sure they were securely fastened. He looked at Edwards who was already standing with the case cover in his hands and motioned for him to go ahead. "Alright, put the cover on and let's fire her up."

"Yes sir!" Edwards said hopping over to the computer and putting the case over the frame. He slid the case back to lock it into place and once they both heard a click, they began to lift up the computer into place. Simmons brought the computer monitor, keyboard and a mouse and quickly hooked them up. He held out a USB drive containing the OS and hoped for the best. _Here is hoping this works, if not for my sake then at least his_.

Edwards plugged in the power cable and attached the USB to one of the ports. Simmons gently pressed the power button and saw that the computer's fan got to work already. But just as quickly as the noise of the fan arose, it died down as well and the systems seemed normal. Simmons went into the BIOS of the computer and changed a few settings to have it boot off of the USB. They restarted the machine and already Simmons could tell Edwards' excitement was growing by the seconds. _Heh, reminds me of myself when I was his age_.

The machine detected the stored OS on the USB they had managed to get their hands onto thanks to Walters. Edwards rubbed his nose with a wide grin. "I knew you could count on Walters for this type of stuff!"

"How come he didn't help you build your own computer all this time then?"

"Well he always said something about not wanting to go to the junkyard, that it would be dangerous for him."

 _That does make sense. The area is off limits after all_ , thought Simmons as he calibrated a few settings in the initial setup. Finally finishing the setup he saw a new glimmer in Edwards' eyes. The computer was up and running. Simmons sat back to see Edwards already playing around with the OS, trying to get himself acclimated to the digital environment. Simmons turned towards Carolina and asked for Epsilon.

"Hey, what's up?" the fragment appeared besides Simmons. The soldier pointed towards the computer and said. "Church, do you think you can help him out a little with understanding the basics?"

"Aren't you supposed to be good with computers 'tech buddy'?"

Simmons turned away in embarrassment as he said. "Well, I don't know much about Linux."

"Seriously dude? That is like the most accessible OS in history and you are telling me you suck balls with it?"

"I never said I sucked with it," the maroon soldier replied crossing his arms as he felt a little vulnerable. Epsilon just shook his shoulders and finally said. "Fine, whatever, but if he goes all geek on me then you are on your own."

Carolina smirked under her helmet thinking, _that definitely sounds like Church…I wonder why he left those recordings for the new Epsilon to adopt his personality? Was it because he was afraid of leaving us completely, or because he didn't want his existence to be gone completely? But then again, this is not the Church we knew_. She shook her head and looked at the fragment interacting with the young boy. Carolina had come to find a certain liking for Edwards, almost like that of an older sister to him. _But for Simmons, I would say that he is much more like a father than a brother to Edwards_.

* * *

Carolina walked in on the fun the three were having and pulled Simmons aside. "What's up Carolina?"

"Don't forget about our training later today," she reminded him with a gentle tap on his shoulder armor. Simmons slumped his shoulders and lazily said. "Yeah, I remember. I wonder how sore my muscles will be after today."

"But you have grown stronger in the one week we have been training so far, haven't you Simmons?"

"I guess that's true," he replied raising his head in thought. She looked back at Edwards who was peeking a few glances every few seconds towards them. She looked back at Simmons who was already waving to the young boy and grinned. "It looks like someone is having a good time."

Simmons suddenly became self-conscious and lowered his arm. Carolina laughed lightly telling him to calm down. "Don't worry Simmons, I was just teasing you. But I'm happy that both you and Edwards get along so well together. Almost like a father and son."

Simmons looked at her with loss for words. L _ike a father and son? I never thought of it that way all that much, especially not since my dad ran out on me as a young child. So how could I even act as a good father figure to begin with?_ Simmons turned towards Edwards and felt his mind drown deep into thought. _Father and son…I wonder if he really sees it like that as well, it that is the case then I guess it isn't so bad. Wait, what? Why am I thinking like this?_

"You are wondering about what I just said aren't you?" Carolina tugged at his arm getting his attention. He admitted that he was. She let out another light hearted laughter. "Don't think too much on this Simmons. Just enjoy it for what it is. After all, in our line of work we never know what tomorrow may bring."

 _Just enjoy it for what it is_ , Simmons pondered as he turned to look back at Edwards and nodded his head. "Yeah, you are right. Let's all just enjoy what we have right now instead of thinking too much into this."

* * *

Elsie was busy setting up a tripod in the main room, and just as she struggled with a lock on the tripod, she found Carolina's help to be momentarily available. The freelancer unlocked the tripod leg for her and helped set up the stand. "What is this for?"

"Oh you will see soon enough," Elsie replied with a giddy tone. "Could you please bring those things on the table over here dear?"

Carolina went to the various objects and picked up a few at a time. She noticed they were plants and various other ornaments, most of them were handmade. She brought them over to Elsie who directed her to set it up at various spots in the ground. Carolina stared at the objects setup and thought about what these could be for. _There is a tripod here, and these objects, what is she planning?_

Carolina smirked under her helmet. She found this mysterious side of Elsie to be always fascinating. But at the same time the warm surprises such a side would bring also gave her little bouts of comfort. _I suppose I should accept this relationship on how I really feel it is like_. Carolina looked at Elsie with a wider smile. _It has been a very long time since someone came along who reminded me of my mother to this extent. Elsie the step-mother…jeez, now I know I'm going crazy from all this haha_.

"Wunderbar it's all set up ja!"

Carolina quickly found her smile fade away and a heavy sigh escaped her at the familiar voice. The good Captain Muffins walked forward eager to participate in their planned event. Carolina observed Elsie and Muffins getting along quite nicely. _They were in on this together? Knowing Muffins this could go south real quick. If it does, breaking a few of his bones wouldn't be a bad thing now would it?_

Soon the whole group appeared alongside Ben. Grif seemed quite cross from the sounds of his tone. "Okay, let's just get this over with."

"Aw come on Grif, it won't be so bad," Donut commented in an effort to comfort the orange soldier. Grif scoffed at Donut's words. "Says you, do you know how awesome of a dream I was having before you jerks woke me up?"

"Did it have me and Simmons together in it?" Sister asked all excited.

"What? No, why would I dream about that?" Grif answered grossed out at the prospect. "Weirdo."

"Oh right, and that's coming from the brother who left his sister to drown in a frozen lake for three hours," she replied looking away with her arms crossed. _Guess she's mad, oh well_ , thought Grif as he walked to the makeshift set and said. "Okay, grab the others and get this over with."

Carolina approached Elsie and tapped her on her shoulder. She whispered into her ear a question. "What are we doing?"

Elsie clapped her hands with a wide smile and said. "We are going to take a group photo."

"A what?!" Carolina exclaimed with the idea taking her by storm. Elsie tilted her head and asked. "Does this not suit you dear?"

"Oh no, it's not that, it is just that I was surprised," Carolina looked at the camera in Elsie's hand that Edwards once showed to her before, one of his creations so to speak. Elsie walked on over to the tripod and set it up. Donut went to call the Edwards and Simmons. Carolina leaned in close to Elsie and asked. "What made you want to suddenly take a group photo?"

"I figure that now is as good a time as any since soon you will probably be leaving us."

"What makes you say that?"

"Walters was telling me that the ship for your escape is near completion. So I imagine you will be leaving us soon," Elsie's expression turned quite lonely as she looked towards Edwards' room. "But I'm sad to know that Edwards will be getting very lonely soon as well."

Carolina couldn't say anything. She knew that them needing to leave the planet was necessary to meet up with the others. They couldn't let their comrades be alone up in the station to fight a tough battle. They are family after all. _But so are these two now aren't they? The kindness they have shown and we will just up and leave like that_. Carolina let out a sigh and looked at the three figures exiting Edwards' room. "Elsie, I will stay here with you and Edwards to the very last second I spend here before launch. Other than that, I can't do anymore, I'm sorry."

"I don't have the right to ask for anymore either," Elsie replied with a content smile. "As long as Edwards and everyone else here have a fulfilling time for that period, I will be a very happy woman."

"Come on Simmons!" Edwards said pulling Simmons along by the hand. He guided the soldier to the middle spot in the whole group causing him to wince in pressure. _I hate being the center of attention_. But he couldn't say anything at seeing the happy look on Edwards' face. _I guess I will bear with it for his sake_.

"I nominate myself to stand beside the hot freelancer woman!" Muffins declared with his hand up high in the air. He moved besides her causing her to cringe a little. She did her best to smile, but found that no matter how hard she tried, the best she could do was a crooked smile. She saw him trying to wrap his arm around her waist and quickly smacked his hand. Smacked it she did, to the point where Muffins felt like his bones shattered into pieces. "Touch me and you won't be touching much of anything for a good three months."

"Okay, I no longer want to be beside her."

Carolina let out a sigh and moved herself. She stood by Elsie who was besides Edwards. Elsie raised her arms to get everyone's attention and said. "Okay everyone, look towards the camera!"

* * *

Suddenly multiple flashes went off and the camera printed the pictures right then and there. Elsie hurried over to the camera to study the pictures and was delighted to see the end result. She went around the room showing the pictures to everyone and held out two additional pictures for Carolina and Simmons. The two soldiers looked at one another and then back to Elsie as Simmons asked. "You are giving these to us?"

"Yes, I would love it if you would keep a memory of our time together."

Edwards also held out the mobile phone he had first worked on with Walters. Simmons looked at the offerings quite speechless. Carolina was taken aback by this gesture as well. Simmons took the mobile phone and opened it up. _If only this worked_ , he thought looking back to Edwards. _Then maybe I could have used it to call you_. He bent down at the boy's level and ruffled his hair. "I promise to take great care of it, thanks."

"No problem Simmons, we are tech buddies after all!"

"Yeah," Simmons confirmed also taking the picture from Elsie. "Thank you for everything mam, I appreciate all your help and kindness towards us who were simply strangers."

"Yes," Carolina agreed. "Such kindness is rare these days."

"Oh don't be silly," Elsie said back with the wave of her hand. "If we people don't help one another then who can we expect help from in our time of need later on?"

Simmons was then soon led away by Edwards to his room again to check on the computer. Carolina looked at the two leaving the main room and thought, _I will miss this sight when we leave this planet_. She looked at Elsie who was clearing the set on her own and decided to go ahead and help her. _I will miss these mundane activities as well. So until the time to leave comes, I will make the best of these precious moments_.

* * *

 **A/N: Hey everyone, hope you are enjoying this fanfic so far. I thought to ask of you, what are your thoughts so far on this fanfic both from a red vs blue perspective and a general story perspective. Would appreciate any feedback you maybe able to give.**

 **Thanks for reading and your support!**

 **~ Monty**


	13. Sensitive Data

**Chapter 12: Sensitive Data**

"Are you all comfy in there?" Samuels asked looking at the various boxes in front of him on a cart. Tucker scoffed at him for his smart ass attitude. "Oh yea, having the time of my life. Can we just get this part over with?"

"Sure," Samuels responded looking up at the nearby checkpoint. "Stay quiet now, we are coming up on a checkpoint."

 _Let's hope these credentials we swiped manage to get us through_ , Samuels hoped that all of this would go according to plan. But from experience, he also knew that one must always be flexible in these situations. He approached the window in which a security attendant sat in. Samuels nodded his head to the personnel who looked at the boxes and asked. "What are you delivering?"

"Just a few extra parts for the data center."

"Do you have your security clearance ID?"

"Sure," Samuels took out the card and handed it to the personnel who ran it through a scanner. The personnel took a closer look at the cargo and looked back at the scanner. "Heard about the news with the investigation into the invaders?"

"Invaders?" Samuels inquired and the personnel nodded his head. "That's what the New Order is calling the people who came and caused such massive damage to Sector-D."

"Oh that's us!" Caboose shouted. The personnel looked at the boxes. Samuels nearly broke out into a sweat doing his best to keep up appearances. _Shut up you moron_. Suddenly the two heard some shuffling from the boxes. Tucker punched Caboose through the boxes and said. "Shut up idiot, they will hear us!"

 _Please stop_ , Samuels thought as sweat built up on his face. He so wanted to flip this cart right now. The personnel stood up for a closer inspection. "Are you really carrying goods?"

"Oh yes of course," Samuels answered quickly regaining his composure. "That was just my radio."

"Your radio?"

"Yes, it's broken so it tends to malfunction from time to time," he replied showing the radio and smacking it against his palm. Just as the personnel was about to exit his booth, they were both alerted by a loud beep. The security personnel looked towards the card scanner and saw that the card went through. He stared at the boxes and shook his head. _Whatever, it's not like anyone here can steal our data so easily anyways even if they tried. It may be more fun if he did turn out to be a data thief_. The personnel handed the card back to the man and motioned for him to move along. "Alright, you can go on ahead."

"Thanks," Samuels commented just as the door opened up. _Good thing they are quite lax here in terms of security. If they had checked the boxes then everything would have been over_. He turned a right corner and came upon a secluded area. After taking a look around, he knocked on the boxes. "Come on out, quietly."

* * *

"Surprise!" Caboose exclaimed sticking his head out only to receive a heavy hit on the helmet from Samuels. "What part about quietly don't you understand?"

"I thought we were going to surprise everyone here first," the blue soldier answered retrieving Freckles and getting in formation. Samuels face palmed himself thinking, _dear god please let this go alright_. "Okay, so the data center room we want is down the hall. Remember, to keep out of sight as we make our way there. I don't want any unnecessary encounters taking place."

They began to move out keeping in the door frames and checking to make sure the coast was clear. They moved up again and soon reached the door to the room that held their desired information. Samuels motioned for the others to wait and gently opened the door. He suddenly stepped inside with his gun pointed in several directions. He stuck out his hand and motioned for the others to follow. Delta pixilated besides Caboose and asked. "What information do you exactly seek?"

"My men will handle getting us into the servers, and I will handle extracting the information. You guys just need to keep watch."

"If I may, I can be of use as information handling is my domain after all."

"Yeah, I back Delta on this one," Tucker commented and pointed towards the servers. "Plus if this is anything like their security systems then you will have a hard time getting in won't you?"

"Tucker," Samuels began plugging in a remote device that gave access to their remote hackers back at main base. "We have lived here longer than you and know these systems inside out."

"Very well, as you wi-" Delta began only to be quickly interrupted. Samuels motioned for the fragment to step forth. "If you want to help, you can help us by planting a backdoor once we are inside to feed us live information."

"Understood," the fragment complied and as soon as they cracked the firewalls, the fragment was inside and already got to work. Samuels brought up the information they needed and sent it off to his colleagues. "Did you guys get it?"

"Yeah, we got it boss."

"Good, how long till Delta finishes Tucker?"

"Why ask me? I don't have a direct link to him. Ask Caboose."

Samuels stared at the blue soldier staring into a corner in the wall while occasionally speaking to his gun. "Yeah, I think I will pass on that."

"I have finished," Delta answered giving a visual display of the backdoor. The hackers confirmed that they were now getting live information from Equal's information network. _This is a huge step forward, good. Maybe bringing them along wasn't so bad after all_. Caboose then shot his rifle with some confetti coming out of it. "What? Aren't we celebrating now for a job well done?"

 _On second thought, I take back that previous thought_. Samuels shook his head as he studied some of the information and his jaw dropped. "This is…"

"What is it?" Sarge asked looking at the shaken Samuels. He shoved Samuels over to look at the information and found himself shaking in his armor soon. "So, this doesn't look good."

"Oh it can't be that bad," Tucker said looking at the screen and immediately took back his words. "Okay, never mind, it's all fucked."

"What do we do now Samuels? We didn't think that the New Order would act so soon," asked one of the remote hackers. Samuels looked down in contemplation and saw the reports again. _To wage war with the UNSC in three days, this is too sudden. According to this report, the number of ships required for their initial strike is ready and already mobilized down on the planet. Dammit, we are late_.

However, the more concerning part came after the initial bit of the report. Samuels couldn't think of just how the New Order could preach about being humane but stoop to the levels they have to in finding their army. _Every individual down on the planet that is currently in the slave workforce and healthy enough will be drafted into the military. For people up here it will be voluntary. This is nothing but a dictatorship. And the people from the planet will be the ones sent to the front lines while those loyal to the New Order and their cause will be placed on the second and third line of assault. Equal, you are a monster_.

"Seriously dude," Tucker explained. "This is fucked up, what do we do?"

"The only thing we can do," Sarge answered. "We stop the man."

"But how would you even do that?" Samuels inquired. He knew that they would say something like this without having a plan in mind.

"We could always visit him."

Everyone looked at Caboose who looked around clueless. "What?"

"Caboose, once in a while you actually have some really good ideas," Tucker answered complementing the blue soldier. Caboose felt a little blushed. Sarge reloaded his shotgun and agreed. "I sure would like to pay him a surprise visit."

"Surprise? I love surprises! We can all shout surprise when we get to his door step."

"If it's followed by the gift of sweet vengeance on the broadside of my shotgun, count me in."

"Yeah, I sure would like to stick it to him with my sword," said Tucker receiving multiple silent looks. He suddenly realized what he just said. "Oh wait, no I take that back."

"Hah! No take backs blue," Sarge replied ready to leave the room. Samuels prepared to eject his device from the servers as the others packed up quickly. They looked around and saw that the coast was clear. Tucker tapped Samuels' shoulder and asked for him to hurry. Samuels under pressure suddenly pulled out the device and an alarm triggered. The whole Blood Gulch Crew looked towards Samuels who simply shrugged his shoulders. "No one's perfect."

* * *

"Get ready men!" Sarge shouted aiming his shotgun in front of him. Just as quickly as they managed to pack up, the guards of the facility were already in sight. Tucker could not help but feel a certain tremble in his spine. "Oh fuck…"

"Less talking," Sarge said as he reloaded his shotgun. "And more shooting boys!"

All of them opened fire and the dance of bullets began. Back and forth the bullets would fire and miss. They were all on even ground, but the Blood Gulch crew seemed to be tilting things in their favor with the help of their fragments and Freckles. Samuels was impressed at the amount of coordination the fragments provided. But soon they found even that advantage was lost as soon as the enemy personnel brought out the big laser guns.

"They have laser guns here? You have got to be shitting me!" Tucker shouted hiding behind cover. The others looked around at one another and spoke of any viable plans. Caboose held up his hand as Samuels face palmed. _I am afraid to even ask_.

"What if we asked them to stop firing at us?"

"Why don't you test that for us Caboose?" asked Samuels hoping for one less annoyance. Caboose stuck out his head with a loud voice and said. "Ah hey listen! I want to ask a favor of you guys, can you stop firing at us?"

"We are the enemy jackass! It's what we are supposed to do to one another!"

"Well now that's not very nice!" Caboose replied narrowly dodging a laser beam. The enemy laughed at his attempts saying. "Firing guns in the first place isn't nice, grow a brain!"

Caboose was suddenly sitting still hunched against the cover. Tucker looked at him worriedly. "Come on Caboose. Don't tell me those idiots actually hurt your feelings."

Caboose remained still. Tucker tilted his head again calling out his name but received no response. "Okay Caboose, cut the crap and answer me."

"My name is Michael J. Caboose," Everyone looked at the blue soldier whose voice became deep. Caboose looked up at the enemy and stood up amidst the fire. Crazy bastard, Samuels thought trying to stop him. "And I. Hate. Babies!"

Caboose suddenly rushed into the enemy head on and tackled them all down to the ground. Everyone else stood up surprised with Samuels shaking in his boots. "Holy crap, where did that come from?!"

"It is a little trick Church passed down to me," Delta clarified as he saw Caboose wrecking havoc. "Although I can't do it for long since it can be quite tricky forcibly tapping into this power of his and continue to draw from it."

"While this conversation is fun and all," Sarge interjected waving towards the exit. "We should get going shouldn't we?"

"Right, let's move people!" Samuels ordered running up to Caboose and giving him a gentle tap on the shoulder. "Good work, let's go."

Bang!

Everyone turned to look behind them at the one conscious enemy personnel who fired off a pistol. Samuels was kneeling on the ground holding his right leg that had a large blood stain on it. Caboose quickly jumped on the enemy and pummeled them to dream land. Tucker bent down besides Samuels and studied the wound. "How bad is it Sig?"

"Not very good," the fragment replied taking a scan of the wound. "Someone will have to carry him."

The whole gang heard more alarms trigger behind them and several more doors open. From each door they could see several figures ready to exit and storm them. Samuels rested a hand on Tucker's shoulder and handed him the device they used for hacking. "Take this to the base and give it to the next man in command."

"You can give it to him yourself," said Sarge picking up Samuels by his other side. Samuels shook his head weighing the two down. "No, I'm not going anywhere. This wound is too bad and I can't let any of you be weighed down by me. All of you must survive!"

"Shit man, don't talk like that," Tucker insisted again picking up Samuels. But instead he was pushed away by Samuels who took out a grenade. Tucker and the others looked at Samuels warily who gave a reassuring smirk. "If I'm going out, then I may as well go out with a bang."

"What do we do guys?" Tucker asked under pressure. He felt his calm outlook slowly crumble as he looked back and forth from the approaching enemy and Samuels. Sarge lowered his head and slowly nodded his head. He rested a hand on Tucker's shoulder and motioned for them to go. "We are leaving him?"

"Tucker," Samuels called out with a hand up in the air. Tucker took it and Samuels brought him close. "Promise me that you will kill that bastard Equal."

"Don't talk like that dude, we can't let you di-"

"Promise me!" Samuels shouted as he saw that the enemy grew closer by the second. He was running out of time and patience. He undid the pin on the grenade and Tucker saw the determination in the man's eyes. _To deny him his moment here, would it be too cruel of me, too unfair?_ He wondered as he finally nodded his head. "I promise."

"Good, then go," said Samuels as he looked at the enemy soldiers. Tucker slowly stood up and began to walk backwards. Samuels noticed the leisure pace Tucker backed away at and shouted. "Go!"

Samuels looked back one last time at the crew as they disappeared into a corner and smirked to himself in deep thought. _Who would have thought that I would come joining you soon Locus, still it was a good life that I lived_. He looked at the enemy soldiers only a few feet away and threw the grenade their way. _Adios assholes, adios_.

BOOM!

* * *

The Blood Gulch crew looked back towards the noise of the explosion and noticed the sprinklers unveil themselves from the ceiling. They all continued their way outside with some help from Theta who constructed a map display and highlighted the best routes to take. They managed to make it outside without raising much suspicion and all found a quiet spot to catch their breaths in. Caboose looked around all confused as to how they got there. According to Delta, it was a side effect of awakening his inner rage forcibly, temporary short-term memory loss.

"Dammit, this is just like the time how we had to leave Locus!" Tucker cried out punching a wall. Sarge looked back towards the data center that was quickly put on lockdown and was surrounded by soldiers. _I hope that data room survived. Otherwise all this was for nothing_. The older soldier stored his shotgun and stood up. He walked over to Tucker's side and looked up at the buildings above them. "Tucker, remember the promise you made to Samuels. We will bring him down. At first Equal didn't seem like such a bad fella but now he has taken too much for his own. Not to mention, he has done some pretty shady stuff."

Sarge butted shoulder armor with Tucker and called Caboose over. "Losing Samuels is quite a loss. But you know what this means, it means that we will just have to go over to this Equal guy's place and give him a piece of our mind sooner. I say we storm the place and let him know what it feels like to be powerless. If he wants to wage a war, then I say we wage one here ourselves to show him just how deluded he is."

Tucker raised his head and nodded it. "You know what Sarge, that doesn't sound so bad, an eye for an eye."

"Yeah, let's do it!" shouted Caboose raising Freckles up in the air and firing off some confetti again. Tucker looked back towards the building one last time before moving back to their main base and made it a personal conviction to get payback. _Don't worry Samuels, we will keep that promise. Equal will pay and his whole organization will come down all around him. You have my word on that Samuels_.


	14. Executions

**Chapter 13: Executions**

"She sure is a thing of beauty ain't she?" asked Walters waving a bottle of brandy in the air. Everyone looked towards the nearly completed ship and nodded their heads. Ben however found some dissatisfaction, not with the work but with Walters' attitude. "It's not even night and you are already drunk. Sometimes I really wonder how you will live out your next forty years."

"Who said I have that long?"

"Come now Walters," Ben shook his head patting the drunk on the back. "Don't talk like that. You are still young after all. Imagine the bigger possibilities in life."

Walters shrugged off his words with another gulp of his booze. He rested his head on the table as his vision slightly blurred from the sudden drowsiness. "By the way, where are those _two_?"

"They are with Elsie and Edwards," Ben replied trying to take away the brandy bottle. Though it seems that Walters still had enough wit about him to react quickly enough and keep it all for himself. "Ain't boozing bad for doctors on the job?"

"Isn't drinking heavily bad for you considering the health concerns I displayed to you last time in your general checkup?"

"It's none of your business."

"As your doctor, it actually is," Ben explained in a matter of fact tone. That did not help any as it only seemed to encourage Walter to drink more. "I swear, one of these days Walters you are going to be in serious trouble with the New Order because of these bad habits."

Everyone in the room suddenly heard Walter's buzzer go off. He looked at his digital pad and saw an alert to be summoned. He woozily got up on his feet, barely able to stand straight and began to walk for the door with the wall's support. Ben helped the man along asking. "What happened?"

"I need to go take care of something. It popped out of nowhere."

"Sure," Ben replied in understanding as he looked back towards the others. "I guess we will all just wait here."

* * *

Edwards walked in front of the group with his happy go lucky attitude marching onwards. He led the group of Simmons, Carolina and Elsie toward the garage. Though both Elsie and Edwards were saddened by their time together coming to a close, they both still understood. And while on the surface the two seemed calm, Simmons knew that this was tough on Edwards. _Almost like losing someone close to you_ , thought Simmons as he saw the small strides Edwards walked in. _Life sure has a strange way of throwing things your way and working itself out_.

Carolina had worries of her own with Elsie. To her what once seemed like a kind relationship grew into that of a mother and daughter one. Now she felt that she was going to lose that feeling again. _No, I have to be strong_. She balled her hands into fists and looked away gritting her teeth. _I have to be strong for everyone's sake. I can't let my feelings get the better of me_. The whole group came to a halt as they found Edwards pointing towards some commotion.

One of the villagers approached the two Blood Gulch soldiers and pointed to a building on fire. "Please, you have to help us. There are two kids trapped in there!"

Simmons looked at Carolina for direction. She quickly nodded her head motioning for the maroon soldier to follow. _Why did I even bother thinking that we would to the exact opposite instead of jumping head first into a fiery building?_ Simmons pondered with the shake of his head. He ran past everyone and looked for the best way inside. Carolina got a fire extinguisher from one of the villagers too afraid to take action. She aimed the extinguisher at a wide opening and said. "On my mark Simmons."

She suddenly fired the extinguisher creating clouds of foam as it slowly put out the fire. She looked towards Simmons and motioned for him to go inside. "Mark!"

 _Right_ , Simmons didn't seem to have much confidence in this, but he jumped head in anyways. He would much rather suffer a few burns right now than dislocated joints in their next training session. Carolina rushed in behind him firing at whatever fire stood in their way. They could hear the screams of the kids from atop the beds near the end of the room. _Of course they would be there, can't have it be too easy now can we?_ Simmons jumped through some fire into a safe spot. Carolina was impressed by his agility. _He certainly has improved in more aspects than just one_.

As she chased after him, he reached the bed first amidst the burning temperatures. _Thank god for the built-in air cooling system_. Simmons held out his hands for the kids who jumped into his arms. They hugged his neck tightly causing him to choke a little. "Agh, not so tight you little rascals."

Carolina finally managed to reach him and pointed back the way we came. "This is no time to make small talk. Let's move!"

Simmons held the kids tightly in his arms as Carolina led with the fire extinguisher. She was the first to burst out of the flaming building followed by Simmons. The crowd outside quickly cheered and thanked the two. The parents, while exhausted from these events were overjoyed to see their kids safe and sound. Both of them approached the soldiers and bowed their heads to them causing the two to blush. Simmons placed a hand on the father's shoulder and said. "Don't lower your heads to us. After all, you have shown us great kindness as well by letting us stay in this village."

"He is right," Carolina agreed looking back towards the crowd. _Finding Elsie and Edwards in this crowd will be a pain, but we better get to it instead of complaining_. She gently tapped his arm and pointed towards the crowd. "Let's find Elsie and Edwards and get going to the garage."

Simmons bid them adieu and began their search. Strangely enough after ten minutes of searching in the crowd, they could not find the two. Simmons called up Carolina on the radio and asked. "Any luck on your end Carolina?"

"Nope," she huffed with a tired mind. "Where could they have gotten to?"

Suddenly several of the villagers came running past the two. One bumped into Simmons, and just as he was about to run with the others, Carolina stopped him. "What's going on?"

"They are here, Truth and some other soldiers from the New Order. Apparently it has something to do with the village this time," said the villager as he pointed back to the direction he was running in. "We are going to find out what this is about. But we think it probably is about Walter's death."

"Walter's what?!" Simmons was shocked to hear of the words coming out of the villager's mouth. An alarm went off throughout the whole village. Everyone looked around with a certain sense of fear striking their faces. Carolina did not let this slip by her as she inched closer to the villager and asked. "Why does everyone looks afraid all of a sudden?"

"That alarm is used when something major is about to happen."

* * *

Carolina and Simmons looked at one another and decided to follow the other villagers to where they were headed. Running through several streets they finally reached what they had learned to be was the center of the village. The others met up with Simmons and Carolina and stared at the huge crowd before them. From beyond the crowd they could hear a single voice. "These individuals have been convicted of housing some very dangerous and wanted criminals and thus by Equal's orders they shall be executed."

 _Executions?!_ They all froze at the thought. The Blood Gulch crew began to slowly make their way past the crowd. "So shall it be this young lad first?"

 _Young lad?_ Simmons pondered feeling his heart sink a little. Carolina moved further up only to be stopped by a wall of villager. "Or shall it be this frail old woman?"

 _Is he talking about Elsie or someone else?_ Carolina wondered as she tried to push past the people in front of her. She quickly stopped as she saw their pictures up on display. _We are the criminals he was talking about?_ Before them was a stage with Truth walking back and forth on it. On the stage aside from Truth were two New Order soldiers. Truth aimed his gun back and forth between two figures of varying height on the stage down onto their knees, they were Edwards and Elsie! One of the New Order soldiers stepped in closer to Truth and whispered something in his ears. "Ah, I see. This should be interesting."

There was also another person with the New Order's group. A factory worker from the looks of it, but Washington instantly recognized the man. _That's the guy I interrogated at the factory before_. The factory worker stepped forward with his hands joined together and head low in anxiety. "Sir, about our deal."

"Don't you worry about that bud, you will be taken care of very nicely once this is done."

"But sir, you said that once you had them in custody you would let me and my family off of this planet!" the worker shouted quickly realizing that this deal may not have been what he thought of it to be initially. Truth turned to the worker with one of his eyebrows up in agitation. "This sounds like you are ordering me."

"What? Nothing of that sort sir."

"It sounded like he was ordering me, did that sound like it to you guys as well?" Truth inquired turning to his colleagues. The both looked at one another and nodded back to Truth. "Good, one less deal to worry about then."

"What do you mea-"

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

"No! Sir, please don't!"

"I'm sorry, I thought I just made it implicitly clear that I don't take orders from villagers like you," Truth answered pushing the worker away towards the other villager. The others backed away scared at what was to follow.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

"You bastard!" the worker finally shouted his honest thoughts towards Truth. He began to run towards the man and suddenly his neck and head exploded alongside the collar. Edwards could feel himself losing control as he screamed at the top of his lungs. Fear and panic was beginning to settle in. Elsie shouted for Edwards to look away, but the boy was too scared and fixated on the dead body. The whole Blood Gulch crew was frozen in horror at the gory event that just transpired, and some of them even did their best to hold back the urge to throw up.

Beep. Beep. Beep. Beep.

Simmons mouth dropped wide open as he saw Edwards' collar blinking. _How could things have fallen apart so quickly?_ He tried to push past those in front of him to get to the boy. _I can't let him die!_ But he was stopped by Grif and the others. "Calm down dude, you are no match for them!"

"Shut the fuck up and let me go!" Simmons rebutted shoving Grif off of himself and pushing past the crowd.

BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.

 _No!_ Simmons froze in fear. He felt powerless against this small yet deadly slave collar. Carolina felt the urge to jump out and tear down this display of cruelty, but she was held back by Washington. He didn't like this any more than her, but he managed to keep a logical mind and understood that the odds were stacked against them. Carolina couldn't afford to see the tears streaming down Elsie's face. She couldn't afford to match her eyes as she looked around in desperation, looked around for a savior. "Someone save him!"

BOOM!

All went silent. Simmons felt all of his strength in his legs leave him as he fell on his knees. Elsie could feel her heart fasten at the blood and gore splatters by her side. She could feel Edwards' fresh blood stain on her right cheek. With widened eyes in horror, she felt her lips quiver and for the first time in a long while, she felt hatred for the New Order rise to a whole new level than before.

"You monsters!" she shouted only to meet a quick end at the hands of Truth's alien sword. She was beheaded. Truth swung the sword around getting rid of any blood on there. "It's always messy work killing you lot, but I suppose someone has to do it. May as well be someone who can enjoy it at the same time, wouldn't you slaves agree?"

Carolina felt her time freeze all around her as she saw the fallen head on the ground. She could feel as if the eyes looked directly at her, they peered deep into her mind mocking her weakness and helplessness. Wash held up Carolina from falling just like Simmons, but instead something unexpected happened. Elsie's death tapped into her uncontrollable rage as she let out a scream of a wild and vicious animal. She pushed past Washington and the others, and so did Simmons.

Carolina managed to jump one of the New Orders soldiers and began to throw random but ferocious blows. Many of which were missing the soldier. _Dammit, she is too worked up!_ Washington jumped in the middle of the fight to help her. Simmons chased after Truth with Grif following them soon after. The second New Order soldier was held back by both Donut and Sister.

* * *

"Simmons, wait!" Grif shouted running out of the village in heavy breaths. _Where did he get all this anger from? It sure would have been useful against the Meta in the past_. Simmons chased Truth through the factory doors and into the industrial department. Truth looked back and with a smirk he folded up his helmet on top of his head. "Someone sure got inspired from that display!"

"Stop running you fucking coward!" Simmons shouted finally cornering the killer. Truth stared at the wall in front of him and noticed the thin bridge they stood on. _To think I would run all the way here into this corner. I guess I got swept up in the fun a bit too much_. He turned around to face Simmons who was already ready to fight. "Judging from your tone before, you think you are some warrior of justice that has been victimized don't you?"

"Fuck you!"

"Oh, did I touch a nerve there?" Truth pondered quite entertained at the reactions he received. "You know, you are not special. You think you are the only people who have been victimized? On top of that you act the same as we do. We are no hypocrites unlike the UNSC dogs. All of us act on feelings of hatred."

"I thought I told you to shut the fuck up!" Simmons shouted throwing a strong left hook, an upper cut that was followed by a strong right hook. All of them imbedded with his full strength, and all of them made a loud and visceral noise upon contact. Simmons brought his fists in close to create a defensive stance only to notice Truth standing still. The enemy stretched their shoulders and spoke. "Gotta say bro, that is a mean right hook you got there."

Simmons' fists lowered a little as did his confidence. Truth balled his right hand into a fist and raised it up to Simmons' jaw level. "But I have a meaner right fist!"

With a powerful hit to the jaw, Simmons went tumbling down to the floor. _How? With one hit he managed to bring me down to the ground_. Simmons tried to get away from him but was quickly stopped by a kick to the ribs. Truth bent down to look at the soldier face to face. "So, feel like giving up? Personally I would prefer it if you didn't as it would make for a good work out. You see, I haven't had anyone to fight in a long while."

Simmons tried to get up but was stepped on. "Good, struggle! Fight back with all your might! And so when you realize your failures, you can finally see just how weak you are!"

"Screw…you!" Simmons shouted fighting against the force Truth's boot exerted. Truth decided to let go of him out of pity and said. "So it seems as if the geek has some fight left in him after all. What was it that brat called you, 'tech buddy'? So let's see how good the nerd is in a fist fight."

Grif walked on the walkway above the two observing the fight closely and looked for a way downwards. _Who the fuck designs a building like this?_ He pondered looking for the best way to jump down from. Simmons threw several fists Truth's way all of which missed. _Calm down Simmons, you have got to take it slowly_ , he thought to himself as he threw a wide swing only for it to be blocked. Truth could not help but grin under his helmet at the fruitless efforts. _Let's give you a little lesson in fighting_. Truth deflected Simmons' arm. He bent down to his chest level and delivered a firm strike with his palm. Simmons was forced backwards and quickly he felt a volley of punches to his abdomen repeatedly.

Coughing heavily under his helmet, Simmons felt his whole body weakened and no longer able to stand as easily. He used the hand railings on the side to try and pick himself up again, but he was quickly knocked back down. Truth let out a slight aura of dominance and overconfidence. "The way you shouted before made you seem like you would be some badass or something. I guess you are all talk and no action."

"Now is the perfect opportunity for us to jump down," Gamma advised and Grif agreed with one foot already on the railing. "Hey jackass!"

Truth looked upwards towards Grif who had taken off. He fell atop Truth who was unable to handle the weight. "Killing old people and kids is not cool!"

With some struggle, Truth managed to knock Grif off of himself. He looked down at the orange soldier with a 'come at me' attitude and laughed. "Says the man grovelling on the ground like a dog."

Simmons jumped him from the behind, but failed to get the drop on him. Truth bent downwards, spiralled behind Simmons and kicked the maroon soldier in the knee. Simmons fell to the floor with a grunt and felt a heavy blow to the side of his head. Truth held out his alien sword and activated it with a menacing stare. "What say we make this more entertaining?"

"Uh Simmons, any ideas?" asked Grif.

"Hell if I know."

"Great," Grif replied sarcastically quickly scrambling to make distance. Simmons and Grif stood side by side and slowly backed away with every step Truth took to approach them. He swung his sword around wildly, and left several bruises and marks on the surroundings in the process. _I guess we will deal with the lemon here first_ , Truth thought staring towards Grif. He rushed in fast and led with a piercing strike. Grif managed to avoid it thanks to Gamma's aid in timing.

"Grif!" Simmons shouted in worry only to be elbowed in the face. Truth approached Grif who was shuffling backwards. "Uh Simmons, help!"

Suddenly the maroon soldier jumped Truth from the back and did his best to hold him down. "Now Grif! Let's take him down!"

Grif came running in with his gun drawn and fired several shots at his head. All of the bullets deflected off of Truth's helmet causing both the Blood Gulch soldiers to worry. _No way, all of the bullets didn't even scratch his armor. What the hell is this crap made of?_ They both wondered as Truth suddenly stood up and pushed Simmons's off of himself.

"Now Lemon man, let's keep this fight between us like men."

Grif noticed the raised sword and narrowly dodged it. _Shit, Gamma, any plans?_ Grif continued to narrowly escape the tight grasps of death, but with every swing Truth seemed to be getting closer and closer. _Unfortunately I cannot do anything in this situation but to help project an escape route_ , the fragment responded causing Grif much irritation. "Oh that's some grade A bullshit dude!"

Truth swung at the cables holding up a certain segment of the bridge and cut them clean. From the suddenly momentum they could tell that section of the bridge was about to give out. It needed all of the cables intact to support their weight. Truth waved to Grif as he kicked him away and walked off of that section of the bridge. "Adios Lemon man."

The other cables snapped and the bridge fell to a lower level! Grif fell down with it as Simmons stood up and watched helplessly. "Grif, no!"

Truth ran towards Simmons and tackled him away. He then kicked him hard in the abdomen and said. "Pay attention to what matters the most right now geek, me."

Simmons threw several punches at Truth's chest and face. Some of which he even managed to make contact with, but as expected none of them made a dent on him. If anything, it only made Truth more determined to strike down Simmons. The maroon soldier was becoming more frustrated by his lack of strength. Truth could tell the building weakness in his opponent through the growingly rushed and sporadic fighting style. "That's right, you are weak. If you weren't, then you could have saved that yellow friend of yours. But what could you have done if you couldn't even save one small child."

"Shut up!" Simmons shouted with a wide back handed swing. Truth ducked and quickly took the attacking arm in his free arm and aimed the sword with the other. Simmons froze in spot as he felt the cold chill of defeat in his spine. _Is this really it? Am I really going to die here? Or maybe this is perhaps a sign that I'm going to go join Edwards and Elsie in death now. No, I can't die here!_

"Hey asshole!"

The two looked towards the voice. From up above them stood the orange soldier who said. "I'm not yellow, and the name ain't 'Lemon man', it's Grif and you are about to get your arse kicked!"

Grif jumped down and held Truth in spot. Simmons took the opportunity to rush in and kick the sword out of Truth's hand. Truth gritted his teeth but still kept his composure. _Losing the sword advantage is no big loss. I can still pummel you two to death_. He began to shake Grif off of him, but the more he tried the more resistance he found. Simmons punched Truth to the left, and then to the right!

Truth turned back cracking his neck and said. "You better hope your next few hits kill me because there is going to be hell coming after this. Truth be told I have gotten bored so I plan on ending this quickly."

"Like you are in any position to gloat," said Grif further holding down Truth. Simmons again punched the man left and right, but none of the punches had any effect on him. If anything, Simmons was the one feeling the pain of his fists pounding away against the metal helmet. Grif began to move Truth close to the edge and threw him over. But before Truth could hit the ground, he activated his jets, a detail that didn't escape Simmons' attention. He took out his pistol and began firing towards Truth. Several of the shots landed a perfect hit thanks to Eta's help.

"You idiots never learn, bullets are pointless against me!"

 _We will see about that_ , Simmons jumped downwards blocking Truth's way. The two began to engage in close quarters combat. Each would throw a fist, but only one would make the intended effect that it should have. Simmons again found himself on the losing end. But he could also see that Truth's movements were slowing and he was starting to breathe heavily. Simmons caught the glimpse of some red and orange colors of a deadly liquid down below, they were standing on a bridge crossing a large pool of molten steel.

 _Is this heat affecting him?_ Simmons wondered getting the edge on his enemy. Truth reacted far slowly to the punches and kicks Simmons dished out. He managed to land several more blows and Truth could do nothing about it. Truth even at one point kneeled in fatigue. _I need to get away from this area. Damn this armor_ , he pondered trying to stand up. But everytime he would make some progress, he would be kicked back down by Simmons. "Grif, help me!"

"Yeah, yeah I'm on my way!"

Truth finally stood up and head butted Simmons down to the ground. _Oh fuck!_ Simmons looked at Truth who was slowly walking away leaning against the handrails. But he was quickly stopped in his tracks with Grif blocking his path. "So, how does it feel to be backed into a corner child murderer?"

Truth quickly drew a laser pistol on him and stretched out his other hand in the air. Grif backed away drawing his pistol. But Truth's laser pistol was shot away by Simmons who managed to get the jump on Truth. He tried to bring Truth down to his knees again, but failed and received a dangerous blow to the head. Truth jumped backwards and kept his hand stretched out. _This magnet had better work_. He could then hear something coming their way. With a wide smile he knew that once it reaches him, he will stand a higher chance at victory considering their current circumstances.

As Grif helped Simmons onto his feet, he saw the alien sword approach Truth's hand. The enemy soldier laughed loudly shouting. "You idiots should have killed me when you had the chance! Now I will take my time dismembering you all limb for limb!"

The sword suddenly fell out of his hand. Truth looked at Simmons with a shocked expression. _Thanks Eta, thanks to your help we stopped him for now_. Simmons lowered his pistol as Grif tackled the man over the railing. Truth held on for his dear life as he slowly climbed over and held Grif hostage. But Truth began to lose his battle against the heat. It drained his strength. He began to lose his grip on the railing and fell over towards the molten steel. Grif fell over with him but managed to get a mediocre grip on the bridge right at the last moment. "Simmons, help!"

"Hang on Grif!" Simmons shouted rushing over to help the soldier up. Truth saw that the orange one had survived. _Equal will not be ple-_ , Truth stopped mid thought to look behind him. His jets, they weren't working. _What is going on? This shit isn't funny!_ He again activated the jets but only the lightly pressurized ones seemed to be working, and they weren't enough to hold his weight up in a gravity affected area. _Why are the jets destroyed?_ Suddenly he remembered back to when Simmons shot at his back. _No, his goal was never me but the jets?! Dammit! This fucking shit isn't funny at all!_ He looked at the molten steel, the excruciatingly hot liquid that was only a few centimeters away now. The temperature was so strong that it induced the feeling of burning alive in his mind.

Simmons looked over the railing at Truth helplessly flailing in the air. _This is what you deserve_. Truth made contact with the molten steel and a loud and painful scream filled the whole room. Truth was flailing in the liquid for his very life. But his struggle was pointless. No one could help him now. Simmons could feel some bile rise up in his mouth at the burning figure in the pool. Truth continued to scream for help down to the very last breath he took. Soon, he too was gone in the thick liquid. The maroon soldier turned around and slowly sat down onto the bridge.

"Holy shit, we did it!" said Grif catching his breath and slowly crawling over to the alien sword. He looked at it and activated the artifact. "Woah! Sweet, so this is what having this alien sword feels like."

Simmons stared at the ceiling motionless, shaken and slightly content with his actions. _All those that died at his hand unjustly can now be completely at peace…right?_ Simmons himself wasn't so sure. He could feel his jaw shake from the adrenaline calm down. The rush that once possessed his body was slowly leaving him and making him aware of the true situation.

Simmons took out the cellphone Edwards gave to him as a gift and stared at it with shaky hands. _I actually killed someone. But I didn't do it because I wanted justice for all those that died at his hands. I did it because I wanted…revenge. This murderous rage inside me that acted as my fuel and I openly accepted it_. Simmons felt a little sick to the stomach thinking about it. Grif noticed that Simmons was still in shock and reached out to place a firm grip on his shoulder. "Dude, stay with me. Say something."

There was no response. Simmons simply continued to stare up at the ceiling lost deep within his own thoughts. Grif now looked very worried as he shook the maroon soldier even more. Over the radio he quickly contacted the others. "Um, guys, I think Simmons is broken."

"Don't go around saying that about me," Simmons shook off Grif's hand as he slowly stood up. He took one last look towards the molten steel and there was no trace left of Truth. _Was I in the right to do this for revenge?_ He began to run out of the factory with Grif right behind him. _Killing him wouldn't make Edwards or Elsie come back to life. So what did I really do this for then?_ The two managed to make it out of the factory in one piece. In the distance they could see the others who happily ran towards the two.

"Where is that bastard?!" Carolina shouted trying to storm past Grif and Simmons. But she was stopped by Washington who argued. "Calm down Carolina, we can't just rush in. We need to get as much info as poss-"

"He is dead," Simmons muttered in a low and tired voice. Carolina felt her whole body go numb at the words. "How?"

"He drowned in a pool of molten steel! Can we get off the depressing talk already?" Grif complained raising the alien sword. "Check out what I managed to nick off of him."

"Oh, now you are like a jedi!" Donut exclaimed in an attempt to liven the mood. But no matter what, it was clear that no amount of positive words or actions could just fix this situation. Time was needed, especially for Simmons and Carolina.

* * *

"This is terrible sir," the New Order staff member said faced with Equal in his office. The dreaded news Equal no longer wanted to hear was delivered. Yet another person close to him was now lost. Equal sat still with his head low, he could feel the enormity of said news crushing his skull. Justice stood by his side just as bewildered and disheartened. She felt her heart slow down and a certain sense of fear came knocking. She has not felt fear in a long time, but just from the soldiers they considered B-class, she felt it from their actions down on the planet.

Equal shivered in his chair. He too was afraid, and he was afraid right down to the core. No matter how you look at it, this was not only a major loss for the New Order, but also one for Equal and Justice. They are all a family to one another after having lost theirs in the UNSC attack several years ago. Equal gripped his hands tightly, so tight that it felt like he would crush them. "How and where did it happen?"

"According to our drones in the air, it happened in the factory near the village he was visiting. As for how," the staff hesitated to continue any further under the threatening glare of Equal. The whole room went silent expecting more and under the pressure the staff member finally caved. "From the last bits of footage we received from Truth's armor live feed, we were able to determine that it was two of the people from our wanted list of invaders. I believe they called themselves Grif and Simmons."

The staff member cleared their throat as they saw Equal's gaze harden and teeth grit together. They could feel a certain amount of tension build up in their forehead from this dangerous aura. "Um sir, to add to my previous statements, it seems as if the whole village there was responsible for helping the criminals. From our ex-informant, the factory worker, we were told that the village helped them heal after their crash on the planet, fed them and kept their presence a secret from us."

Equal smashed his hands on the desk causing slight dents on the two points of impact. He looked down at his trembling arms. His mind was a volcano of rage right now. "Those criminals…have they been chased down?"

"We had a backup team on standby should anything happen. We gave the signal to send them in and they reached the location in a timely manner. But-"

"But?"

"Um sir…they um…managed to escape."

That was it. That was the last restraint destroyed. Equal jumped over his desk and punched the messenger down to the ground. He raised his metal arm and smashed the messenger's nose. Blood splattered onto the once clean metal floor. He continued to beat the messenger in the face, breaking several teeth, jaw and cheek bones in the process. He kicked the unfortunate person in the ribs easily causing several punctures in their lungs. The messenger struggled to breathe begging for their 'benevolent' leader to stop.

"You come to me with news of Truth's death and expect me to stop!" Equal demanded lifting the messenger up above his head and smashing his back down onto the ground. Everyone in the room could hear a loud crack from the victim's spine. No matter where the messenger looked, his friends remained all still with their heads low and eyes diverted. _Why won't anyone help me?_ Was all he could think, now unable to speak at all in fear of pain. The metal limbs made quick work of the messenger and just as Equal felt he was about to deliver the final blow, he was quickly stopped by Justice. She held him back from delivering a smashing blow to the messenger's heart.

"Stop Equal, control yourself!" she shouted as he pushed her backwards. "Control myself? Control myself?! And how am I supposed to do that when our own soldiers are so incompetent that they can't track down a group of murderers who were there only moments before them!"

Equal pushed Justice even further back and shouted. "Our groups of highly trained soldiers all seem to be dropping like flies around them at the hands of what we could hardly consider soldiers. How is it that we are so weak?! No, I have had it with such incompetency! All of you are a fucking disgrace to everyone in the New Order!"

He took a moment to take in deep breaths. He looked all around and in another fit of rage, he held his table tightly and threw it to the side. Everyone in the room was shocked by this display. Equal looked down at the ground with bloodshot eyes. _This display of weakness is unacceptable. I will not let them make a mockery of us anymore!_ He turned back to the other staff members and said. "Relay these orders without fail, or else you will end up like your friend on the floor here."

"W- What are your o- orders, sir?"

"Purge the village found guilty," Equal demanded as he motioned for them all to leave. Justice stopped them from doing so causing Equal another great cause for anger. "What are you doing Justice? Do you dare to stand in my way?!"

"Please Equal," she begged moving closer to him. He took a hold of his alien sword by his leg and she immediately stopped. _He is dangerous right now_. She backed off but his threat was not enough to keep her quiet. "Reconsider what it is you are saying! You want to punish the whole village for the mistakes of a few? Does that not sound like the cries of a madman?!"

"Me, a madman?" Equal was amused at her words, but at the same time considered them to be the words of a traitor. "Listen well Justice. Those villagers you claim to be innocent are no less guilty than the ones directly involved with sheltering and feeding the enemy. They knew of their presence in the village and yet they chose to keep quiet about it from us. They kept it quiet from me, the same person who granted them a reason to still exist after what the UNSC did to us! They are no simple villagers now, they are all branded traitors."

Again the whole room was quiet. The only sounds audible in the room were that of the opening door, and the gasps of the medical workers here to pick up the messenger. Equal glared at everyone in the room asking. "What are you all still here for? You have your fucking orders, now go and execute them unless you want to give me reasons to put you all in the hospital as well!"

"We are sorry sir!" the staff members apologized as they pushed past the medical workers and into the elevator. Justice stared at Equal with a cautious gaze. _He is becoming too much of a loose cannon. I need to bring him back under control_. She helped the medical workers put the messenger onto a stretcher and carry him away. Justice stood in the door frame and looked back to Equal saying. "Equal, there are limits to what you are allowed to do both as the head of this Order and as a human being."

He remained quiet.

"You went too far. I expect for you to make some sort of amendments for this."

He remained quiet.

"Say something for crying out loud!"

"What do you want me to say when I am in the middle of mourning for our friend's death?"

"Truth's death hurts me as well, but that doesn't give you right to beat a man half to death," Justice argued back earning an inconsiderate glare her way. Equal scoffed at her saying. "What do you know? You never did get along all that well with Truth so I don't expect you to understand."

"Equal!" Justice shouted silencing the whole room. Equal turned around to look at her understanding the gravity of her tone. "Since when did our own people become enemies for you to eliminate?"

"The weak deserve every bit of beating they get from me."

Justice walked in close and studied him from head to toe. "The weak deserve it you say?"

"Yes."

Equal was quickly forced to the ground. He didn't even notice her attack and now he was pinned in an unfortunate position. He struggled against her grip but failed at making any sort of progress. "So then since you are weak against me, it would be fine for me to beat you half to death would it not?"

Equal remained quiet and felt her voice tear him up a bit. He could feel his body shake a little from the fear her voice instilled in his mind. But quickly he regained composure with a small grin. "It would work if I weren't the head of the New Order. Even if I don't say anything, don't you think the people would react violently and label you a traitor?"

"I'm disappointed to hear such words out of you," Justice said getting off of him. He slowly picked himself up rubbing his back. She walked towards the door and said. "To think that you would stoop to such corrupt means of operating the New Order is disappointing to say the least. We created this New Order to help do things the right way, without using corruption. Although our actions of the past aren't necessarily noble either, and there are some things that are definitely regrettable. But our goal is to eliminate corruption within the UNSC, but now you dare use it here yourself. It makes you nothing less than a hypocrite."

Justice walked into the door frame and let out a heavy breath. She looked back one last time and said. "You better figure out the difference between your allies and your enemies Equal, because we may not always be here by your side."

* * *

The Blood Gulch crew looked towards the village that aired another siren. Washington looked at it tiredly wondering, _what is it now?_ The others began to make their way for the village when they were approached by Muffins and Ben. "Ah my Blood Gulch hoomies, we need to use our legs to run away now ja!"

"What's going on?" asked Donut following the others. Ben looked back at the group with a terrified expression and said. "There is about to be a fallout. This alarm is only played when someone really bad is about to happen."

"How bad are we talking here?" Grif questioned only to then see a few ships from the factory beginning their ascent into the sky. "Oh, so the 'very fucked' kind of bad."

"All of you have to get out of this village!" Ben shouted back as he led them to a helipad where there was a helicopter ready. "Go to the village at the coordinates I have given to Captain Muffins. The people there will be willing to help you. They are one of the major villages in the growing rebellion against the New Order. Remember, that as long as they see a mutually beneficial relationship, they will help you no matter how difficult the task, especially when it pertains to the New Order."

"What about you?" Wash asked helping Carolina on board. Private Buttmunch and Boyscout started the chopper and inputted the coordinates. Ben looked back towards the village and up to the battleships. "Don't worry about me. My place is here in this village. Also here, it was supposed to be a little parting gift from Walters."

Ben handed Wash a compact device. He looked at it with curiosity and looked at the good doctor for an explanation. "All Walters ever told me was that this device can help you fight more easily against the special armor worn by a select few in the New Order. Their armor is weak to extreme heat, so this device makes use of high heat temperatures to be used as a weapon."

"Everyone strapped in?" Private Buttmunch questioned looking back. Only Wash was left standing up as he gently placed the device besides Carolina. He looked up at the battleships. _I have a bad feeling about this_. He looked back to the doctor stretching out his hand. "Last chance doc!"

Ben lowered his head with a smile and shook it. "My choice has already been made Agent Washington. Take good care of yourselves. It is unfortunate that we must part under these circumstances, but life sure has a strange way of working things out."

The helicopter slowly arose into the air and began to gain altitude. Washington and the others looked back towards the village. _We are sorry for all the pain that we have brought onto this village_ , was the thought going through their heads. Captain Muffins peeked his head into the cockpit and saw that the GPS had already planned out a route for them.

"Oh my god," Wash whispered unable to contain the shock in his voice. Everyone in the heli looked towards the village. Above it hovered the three battleships. Onboard the battleship control rooms were ship operators made up of the backup units sent into the village. "Let's do this one quickly people, purge the entire village."

Below the battleships opened several panels revealing many bombs and missiles. Everyone in the village knew what this was. The purge wasn't something the New Order used often, but every once in a while they would do it to either help control population, squash the rebellion or punish the people for their actions in what the New Order perceived to be crimes. This was one of those moments. The whole village was in a mass panic. The main squad leader of the backup New Order unit looked at the village before them and said. "Fire."

Suddenly the ships released several bombs and missiles. All of which made a deafening sound falling through the air and creating several explosions and mushroom clouds upon contact. Wash leaned in closer to the edge unable to believe his eyes at what he was witnessing. _This is too cruel_. The once peaceful village quickly became a pit of fire. Several were killed by the initial bombardment. But for those left alive, they faced a much worse death, being burnt alive, suffocating and the second and third wave of bombardment.

The whole crew but Carolina and Simmons looked away. The two soldiers decided to engrave this moment deep into their minds to forever remember these feelings of hate and anger towards the New Order. Simmons held Edwards' mobile phone tightly in his left hand with a conviction of stopping the New Order. Carolina turned to look down at the photo she was given before and ran her finger over both Elsie's and Edwards' faces. She bit her lip and promised to do what she believes is right. _I will bring down the New Order and avenge you both, even if I have to do it alone_.

* * *

 **A/N: So, quite a change in tone wouldn't you say? Me killing Edwards and Elsie off, and practically any other character. Yeah that's right no spoiler tags, especially for those who skipped the chapter. Come at me bro! :P**  
 **Anyways, hope you enjoyed it :). Leave your thoughts in the review section, that is much appreciated.** **~ Monty**


	15. Welcome the War

**Chapter 14: Welcome the War**

He sank deeper and deeper into an indescribable and fear inducing darkness. The feeling on his skin was as heavy as the oceanic water weighing him down. There was no air, and no feeling of suffocation. There was no light and only darkness. There was no one here but him. _Why am I here?_ He wondered gently opening his eyes. Everywhere was just a dark void. But his senses could tell that he was slowly falling. Falling to where? No one knew but the darkness itself.

After some minutes of endless drifting, he found himself finding a sparkle of light amidst the disorientating world he inhabited. The light outlined a hard rocky surface for him to land safely and perfectly on. _Where am I?_ He wondered looking all around. He froze at what was before his eyes. He was looking at himself, it was like his reflection, but at the same time not exactly so. In the reflection was Equal looking at himself.

He was surrounded by Pure, Truth, Justice and Locus, some of the people closest to him. None of them held any weapons of any sorts, and the background was a stark comparison to what really stood behind Equal. All of them stood on a calm, peaceful and fertile land surrounded by much natural growth, vegetation and small villages. _What is this?_

He looked behind himself and unlike the reflection he found only death and destruction. By his feet were the bodies of his three trusted friends, Pure, Truth and Locus. He jerked away in reaction to their mutilated corpses, but quickly regained his senses and bent downwards towards them. "L- Locus?"

There was no response.

"Truth?"

There was no response.

"Pure?!"

There was no response.

In the distance he could see a fire burning brightly and the screams of many invading his ears. Several explosions initiated causing Equal to feel the kickback of each one. But what got him the most was up above the fire. There were pieces of the space station silently floating in one spot. It was the 'Rise of Justice' space colony torn up into several pieces. Equal fell to his knees at seeing his product of hard work all torn apart. _No, what is this? Why am I seeing all these things?!_

"Isn't it obvious?" asked a voice. _That's my voice!_ Equal looked behind him at his reflection walking closer to the mirror. _This isn't a reflection?_ The Equal on the happy side pointed towards the one on the dark and lonely side and said. "This is what you wanted."

"What are you talking about?"

"You push away people, even Justice who seemed to care the most about you. Is she anywhere to be found on your side? No. But here she stands proudly and happily by my side. You have nothing. You are nothing."

"You say that like you are perfect!"

"I'm not perfect, but I'm not alone either," said the happier Equal. He motioned back to his allies and smiled. "I chose them over my desires."

"What the hell are you saying?"

"I chose them over revenge," he replied walking back to his friends. They all began to smile together looking towards Equal. For unknown reasons it infuriated him. _How can you be so happy when I sit here alone?!_ The happy Equal noticed the anger directed his way and smirked. "Feeling jealous or perhaps confused?"

The enraged Equal looked away from the happy picture painted before him. _I know that this is a dream, but why am I having it in the first place?_ The happy Equal shook his shoulders with a light laugh and said. "You never could be honest with your feelings. You want happiness to don't you?"

"Of course," Equal replied calming down a little. "I want happiness for us all!"

"And yet you are surrounded by death, destruction and failure. What do you think that says about your current lifestyle?"

Equal bit his lips and looked away from those pure eyes that stared at him. The happy Equal crossed his arms studying the destruction and death all around Equal and said. "I would say that you aren't close to achieving that happiness you spoke of. In fact it's the opposite. You drive away Justice from yourself even after all the efforts she makes to stay close to you. You send three battleships to purge a village of harmless people all in the name of your own righteous sense of justice. You are nowhere near happiness, no you chose revenge."

"So what if I did? That will lead me to happiness in the end!"

"I chose happiness, and you chose revenge," the happy Equal again said walking towards the barrier that separates them from one another. "Happiness is a choice. But you have clearly chosen to be completely alone."

 _No, he is wrong!_ Equal stormed towards the barrier and smashed his fist onto it. "You are wrong, absolutely wrong!"

"And yet you react so violently whenever I bring up happiness, and laugh with my friends happily."

Equal angrily punched the barrier again. This time he caused a crack to appear and a strong pressure escaped the barrier. The barrier began to crack completely with the peaceful side becoming tainted by the void. The happy Equal looked all around and his once pure eyes turned dark. "You are so alone that you can't even help but drag others down with you."

 _What is going on?_ Equal wondered as he saw the darkness absorb his image completely. Out of the darkness, he could begin to see an outline. Horns formed on what was once Equal's head. Wings began to spread out of his back. Claws extended from both his hands and feet. Dark purple scales covered his whole body with a red shroud of fog. But the most disturbing aspect of this new being before him was the creature's eyes. The eyes were one to easily instill fear and fracture one's mind easily. Those eyes were filled with unending hate.

 _Is this what I have become?_ Equal wondered suddenly feeling some supernatural gravity acting on his body. It drew him closer to this satanic beast against his will. Like a puppet attached to a string, no matter how hard it would fight it must still obey the will of its master, Equal had to obey the will of his unknown and mysterious puppeteer as it raised his arm up towards the beast. _What the hell? Let go of me!_ Equal pondered struggling so very hard against this force.

* * *

Equal's eyes opened wide, his senses became clear. He looked at the beeping noise to his right. He was in his bed, and his alarm was going off. He turned over to reach for the alarm and turn it off. _It was all a dream?_ He cupped his mouth in one hand still feeling the realism of the dream. _Was it a lucid nightmare?_

He slowly got out of bed and looked outside his window. The colony still operated as it always did. _So it thankfully was a dream_. He bent down to pick up a few pillows he had knocked away in his sleep and threw them back onto the bed. Equal let out a relieved sigh as he went into the washroom and cleaned his face. He quickly got ready as soon as he heard the bell to his door. "Coming!"

He unlocked the door, and it slid open automatically. He looked at the woman standing before him. His face quickly tensed up as he remembered back to his dream. Justice studied his facial movements, nothing escaped her notice. She also took note of the ruffled up bed sheets and asked. "Is everything alright?"

Her tone was indifferent. Equal was very surprised to hear this type of tone out of her mouth. _I don't think I have ever heard her be indifferent before_. And the words he heard in his nightmare echoed in his ears. That he is pushing her away and pretty soon he would be all alone. _She usually is kind and caring, but I guess I have done things to deserve this lately. What else can I do when I am afraid Justice?_ He walked through the small gap between the door and Justice. Equal closed shut the door and ensured that it was locked up safely. He had no intention of bringing emotions into this however and wanted to keep things professional. "I'm fine Justice. Just worry about your own work."

Justice was evidently frustrated and angry at the response. Equal however stopped midway as he called up the elevator. He looked back and smiled a little, even if a little forced. "Thank you for your concern."

Justice punched the wall in irritation just as the elevator doors closed. Her threshold of patience was slowly being torn apart by Equal's distant and hostile behavior. _I'm growing sick and tired of this Equal. Why do you choose to think that the best way of conducting yourself is by distancing yourself from others? Why do you think that a lack of communication with me will protect you from grief?!_

Justice trudges towards the elevators and hits the call button. She rests her shoulder against the wall and ponders deeply. _I don't want to be indifferent towards you Equal, but you aren't doing a great job of showing me that you still want me around. From the look of things right now, it is more like you want to keep on pushing me away no matter what words I say to you_. The elevator light blinks and the doors open. She steps inside and picks her floor with consideration. As the doors close, she lets out a fatigued sigh. _If my words won't have an effect, then maybe may actions will. Who knows, who really knows at this point?_

Justice exited the building and stepped into a company car. She was then driven away to the Sector-C dock where she boarded the ship all ready for her. She studied the mission report on board. _So you are finally getting started on our final phase of the plan_. She shut off the report display and sat back to simply enjoy the ride down to the planet. _At least we are making progress on some things, more so than others. I just wish it wasn't done like this…Equal_.

* * *

"Sir, they are ready for your planet wide announcement."

A New Order employee made way for Equal to proceed into a room filled with cameras, crew and other technical operators. He looked all around at the set prepared for this presentation and proclaimed it to be a good job. "Good, let's get the cameras rolling. I want to get this over with as soon as possible."

"Yes sir."

Equal sat down comfortably into the leather seat. In front of him was a war room type table that was finished with a neat glossy look. Atop the table were several red and blue flags fixated onto a galaxy map. _A perfect setting for a war hungry commander_. The camera operator looked at Equal who folded up his helmet and gave a nod. "Okay, quiet on the set everyone. I'm about to begin!"

The light was green on the set. The cameras were rolling and all attention was focused on Equal. The big man cleared his throat and looked directly into the camera. He took a moment to consider his words before letting them out into public domain. "Hello planet inhabitants. You should all be familiar with me, but for those of you that don't know me. I am Equal, the head of the New Order and your _employer_."

"Mam," one of the pilots of the recently departed space ship called out towards the passenger area. "Equal is making his announcement, would you like to watch?"

 _I may as well_. The key bearer that was Justice looked towards the cockpit and said. "Yes, please bring up the display. Thank you."

A digital display activated on her window and began to slowly model together a clear picture. Equal was raising his fist into the air as he spoke. "For years we have worked hard, we have strived for great things all with one end goal. Well we are close to that end goal. As we speak, the key bearer to grant passage to that goal is now on their way to the planet. They will open the doors to our future, one that we have dreamt of for so long."

"Speak for yourselves," said an elderly man as he brushed his grey moustache. The Blood Gulch crew looked around at the dissatisfied faces. The elderly man was the village chief of the one they landed down on as per Ben's instructions. Equal lowered his arm and rested his chin on his hands. "Take comfort knowing that every one of you has helped us to this step of our hopeful realizations of the future. With your continued _help_ , we will succeed!"

Many of the people within the main gathering building began to leave with a look of disapproval on their faces. Washington thanked his lucky stars to have been recommended to such an anti-New Order village. Equal held up a piece of paper and signed it on camera. "This document officially states that everyone on the planet is required to serve under the military. In the coming times, we will need all the hands we can get. Even children will be sent into the military. They shall serve basic purposes such as keeping the ships clean, the soldiers fed and any other minor tasks ordered by the chain of command. As for the elderly, they will be sent out alongside everyone else. I'm sure they will serve some purpose in the long run."

Everyone leaving the hall froze in their tracks. They looked back with shock and disgust on their faces. Justice was equally shocked. _I never heard of this before. Equal, just what do you think you are doing?_ But she also just as quickly remembered her place within the New Order _. No, I have to calm down. This is for the betterment of New Order. Plus if I try to do anything now, he will just brand me a traitor and have me killed_.

"For the purposes of this war, I also had you all set the construction of the battleships as the primary responsibility," said Equal motioning towards a display behind him of the ships. "Soon we shall usher in a new era with our battle fleet, an era of justice."

Everyone in the meeting hall heard the rumblings of the ground, and the unusual thundering sounds in the sky. Many of them rushed outside only to see hell literally rise into the air. The battleships once in their factories were slowly rising up into the sky. They were all in some sort of a formation from what Washington could determine. Simmons looked up with his mouth parted. The enormity of these giant ships hit him hard on the face. But he still decided to stand strong, to hold back that trembling in his limbs. He had to be strong, for Edward's and Elsie's sake. He had to be strong for the others as well. He thought such things as he gripped the mobile phone tightly.

Carolina gritted her teeth and balled her fists. She felt her rage rise with every bit of altitude the ships gained. _I will stop all of you_. Epsilon suddenly appeared behind her advising her to calm down. "Don't tell me what to do Epsilon. You also know that they need to pay. I will make sure that they actually do pay for their crimes."

"A sizable fleet, truly built for war. And there are supposed to be more of these all across the planet? Lucky us," Washington whispered under his breath. He turned to look back at the TV where Equal finally concluded his speech with the following. "There will be losses. No doubt ranging into the hundreds as the current plans entails to put you all on the front lines, but do not worry. Your sacrifices will create a path for a better future. Your courage is admirable, and I wish all of you the best in the coming times."

* * *

"So just going to throw this out there," began Sister as she looked all around the room. "That guy is totally asking for a good ass whooping!"

"Um guys," Donut directed everyone's attentions back up to the ships and asked. "Who is piloting those things?"

"It's probably the additional New Order soldiers that have been landing on the planet under the cover of night recently," said the village chief.

Washington looked at him shaking his head. "And you didn't tell us this before because?"

"Well I'm sorry for not telling you something that even I wasn't sure on," the elder replied sarcastically. "Next time I will be sure to call you up first thing for any news I get in life ever."

"Leave the sarcastic smart ass remarks to the trained German ja."

The ships slowly began to increase speed and flew out of visual range. Everyone looked shaken at the tremendous pressure the ships left behind all around them. Donut stood somewhat clueless as usual and slumped his shoulders in slight defeat. "So, that just happened."

"We are going to fucking die!" shouted Grif and quickly received a blow to the helmet from Wash. "Ow, what was that for dude?"

"Too soon!" shouted the grey soldier. He looked back to the others and said. "So, while I think I know what you guys may want to do. I just want to ask everyone one of you again what you intend to do after hearing that message."

"We go kick Equal in the keister, cop dude!" Sis exclaimed waving her fist up in the air. The others around her agreed like an angry mob. _Good to see our time here hasn't changed her raging insanity one bit_. Washington looked towards Simmons and Carolina who gazed off far into the distance. He approached the two gently patting them on the shoulders. "You two okay?"

Carolina shoved off his hand and walked away. "I'm fine Wash. But more than anything else that I want right now, I want to see Equal's head in front of my feet. He deserves no fucking mercy."

Washington was surprised to hear Carolina cuss. It wasn't all that often he would hear her say the F word. Simmons gently loosened Wash's grip and walked away himself. He stopped to look up at the moon by the planet and agreed with Carolina. He flipped open the phone and closed it again. "Equal dug his own grave, and now it's time he fills it as well."

They were all in agreement. Their target was clear. It wasn't necessarily the New Order, but the people high up the corporate ladder in the organization. Namely speaking Equal, the man has committed some very unforgivable and cruel crime against the people of this planet. Now it was time he finally learned the consequences of such crimes. It was time that he paid.

The whole of Blood Gulch crew looked up determined to be the ones to make Equal see the price he has to pay. The price was big, very big and they were willing to carry it together until the time came to dump it onto Equal's head. In that moment of unity, only one thought went through their heads. _You better be ready Equal, because we are coming for you_.


	16. Surprise

**Chapter 15: Surprise**

In a certain region of the galaxy, several UNSC ships were stationed in a defensive formation. Behind the front line ships were more neatly coordinated and ready to respond to any attacks possible. Aboard the ship at the center of the circular formation were those in charge of the fleet. Several workers busy at ensuring operations ran smoothly, and no surprises popped up.

Beep! Beep!

An alarm went off to the right of one of the ship operators. They brought up a visual display from their onboard cameras and pinpointed in on the exact location of the alert. _Why is a notification going off for something behind us? Nothing would be able to get past us so easily. It must be a faulty reading_. The ship's operator decided to follow their judgement on this one and ignore the warning.

"Tell the New Order that this is the perfect opportunity to send them through," a Captain of a mysterious ship spoke to his subordinates. They sent the signal back home and awaited a response. _For all the intelligence we throw into our strategies, we always manage to overlook something as humans. The UNSC has some smart people, but even those people were stupid enough to overlook the serious flaw of only creating a horizontal line of defense versus a sphere. There is always something to exploit now isn't there?_ The good Captain smiled at the coming battle. He could feel his heart pumping. This is what he had been training for his whole life after all.

"Sir, we have received a confirmation," one of the lead communicators replied to the Captain. He looked at the woman for an answer and she continued. "We should expect them any second now."

"Good," the Captain turned to the other staff and motioned for them to de-activate the camouflage. The UNSC sensors went on high alert! Everyone aboard the lead ship looked towards the new threat. It was the same ship that first safely went through the portal under Equal's supervision, it was the ship dubbed 'Angel of Hope'. They then detected several tears in space and time as many portals began to open up.

"What is going on?!" the Captain of the lead UNSC ship demanded. The ship workers scrambled to get an answer, but they could only determine one undesirable answer. "It's a surprise attack…"

Everyone looked up at the foreign ships entering the battlefield. They all sounded the alarm and everyone went to battle stations. The Angel of Hope opened fire on one of the UNSC ships and made a clean strike on its bridge. The Captain licked his lips in cultivating excitement. "First blood you corrupt mongrels."

The rest of the New Order ships opened fire and landed clean successive blows on the UNSC ships. Several had their engines disabled, and some were completely torn apart. Those still in working condition quickly turned their ships around and began battle. Cannons fired left and right, some shots missed, some hit, and all of them prayed for luck to aid them in their battle. Several New Order and UNSC ships came into close proximity and fired their broadside cannons. Some others rammed a few causing damage to both the ships and the crew.

Many of the ships released fighter jets taking the combat pace up a notch. Both sides incurred great damage on the missiles being shot through space, the bullets dancing to their target and the silent explosions leaving nothing but scraps. In space, no one can hear your screams. That stood true the most right now, the screams in their last moments before meeting the horrifying embrace of death were to fall on deaf ears.

* * *

Washington and the others watched the last of the ships fly away. The village now felt so empty all around them. Only a few were left, and they had somehow managed to avoid the draft through some expert evasion. Some even had to go as far as to declare themselves dead to make the process more easy. The once crowded streets were now a barren land, slowly itching to waste away. Wash closed his eyes and hoped for good fortune on the planet's inhabitants.

He turned to see the rest of the crew breaking up as well. There was nothing right now that they could do, they all needed rest and this was also a good time for them to reflect. Wash walked beside Simmons and Carolina and stopped them from leaving. "We need to talk you two."

The three went back into the village's meeting hall and sat down on a circular table. Wash crossed his arms and said. "I know that you two are bothered by what happened at the previous village. I know how close you two had become to Edwards and Elsie."

Simmons and Carolina glared up at him. _So even using their names around these two is like a taboo now_. Washington rested his elbows on the table with his hands folded together. "Look, the reason I called you here is to ask if you two can really handle this. Ever since the purge, you two haven't really been yourselves and understandably so. But we need everyone to be in the right state of mind to be able to resolve this mess."

"I'm fine Wash," Carolina immediately replied averting her gaze to her right. Wash didn't let that escape his notice and he stamped his foot on the ground alerting his two conversational partners. "Don't try to feed me that Carolina. I know when you are not actually fine, we have known each other long enough for me to be able to tell so easily."

Simmons remained quiet throughout the whole conversation with his head low. Washington didn't even need to say anything know that he wasn't doing well. Washington carefully considered his words as he looked back and forth between the two. "You know I only want the best for you guys. I know you feel grief, but then you can use the grief to help in our, in your mission. You want to see Equal pay just as much as I do. I and the others have a huge responsibility to uphold being guilty for the purge even occurring in the first place. So instead of passively remaining in grief, why not use that to power your anger and strength towards Equal?"

"How can anger that will undoubtedly change into hate even become strength for someone?" Simmons pondered out loud while rubbing a speck of dust off the table. Washington was stumped at the question. He gave the first answer that could come to his mind. "If the motivation is right, then anything is possible."

Simmons stood up at the generic bullshit answer. He couldn't even afford to digest such nonsense through his brain. He turned around to walk away, but before doing so he posed one last question for the two to wonder. "How can the motivation be right if hatred is used to fuel it? Is hatred even the right fuel to use in the first place?"

Washington was once again stumped. This time he didn't have an answer however and Simmons took that as a cue to leave. Carolina felt what Simmons said was right, but at the same time this internal conflict within her. It was a conflict in which the dividing lines felt blurred. Pure and just intentions fought against personal, selfish and hate induced intentions such as vengeance.

 _This hate which continues to grow daily inside of me, take up more space is slowly becoming the only sole driver for me_. Carolina looked down at the table and gently rested her forehead on it. _Am I doing this for the right reasons then? But in the end it will be finished with Equal getting his just dues either way. So does the right thing matter as much?_ Carolina stood up leaving a confused Washington behind. _Maybe it does for my own sanity…maybe he really is correct_.

* * *

Wash looked all around him at the empty hall and threw up his arms. _That went well, a whole lot of progress made, yes sir. What am I going to do about them?_ He stood up to leave as well and join the rest of the gang. Donut looked his way expecting a response.

"So yeah," Wash began by scratching the back of his helmet. "I talked with them and…"

"And it didn't go so well?" Muffins finished earning a nod from Washington. The rest of the people around them gave disapproving looks. _I tried my best, jeez_ , Wash thought with his hands apologetically behind his back. Donut stepped forward and asked. "So, what do we do now?"

"We have to act now," the village chief recommended motioning to his remaining men. "We are ready and the sooner we act the better. Fewer lives will be lost that way in this meaningless war as well."

"You are right," Wash admitted, but then there was a new problem according to Sister. "What do we do then? It's not like we can just throw a rave party expecting Equal to show up and murder him in his own cold blood. But that would be awesome!"

"I will bring the booze," Grif said holding up a can of beer. Donut looked around at the poor village and was stunned to see that can. "Where did you even get that beer?"

"I have my contacts," Grif replied tightly holding onto the can. _It's mine you hear, all mine!_

"If you guys are done fooling around," Washington pointed in the direction of a floating structure in the sky. "I got a tip from someone in this village before that there are certain towers that are activated by the swords that Equal and his high ranked generals carry. Namely speaking, it would be the sword that Grif is carrying now."

"Ah great, so Equal has a sword as well," Grif threw his empty can of beer into the nearest bin and crossed his arms. "Tucker will not be happy about the _sword_ measuring contest. I mean I have one and mine is pretty _big_ after all."

"If I may continue," Washington looked all around and to the village inhabitants. "If we can get to that tower, who knows it may be a communication tower like back on Chorus. Or it could give us a map just like we got on Chorus."

"So it's Chorus all over again?" asked Donut receiving several nods all around. Grif let out an exasperated sigh. "So much for shit being easy."

"None of this has been easy so far!" complained Sis only to receive a smug grunt from the orange soldier. "Please, that's only if you are you. This was like a walk in the park so far in comparison to what we have been through before."

"Getting blown out into space and nearly dying from it was a walk in the park?" Wash questioned astonished to hear Grif's definition of 'walk in the park'. _Either he is putting on a tough guy act or he is crazy just like Sister here. That would explain more about his family, more than I would like to know_. Grif took out another can of beer and cracked it open. "What? Is it not for you? I mean dying isn't really that much of a land mark anymore. We have all literally been close to it. Some of us have even done it."

 _Just suppress the stupidity Wash_. Washington looked away from the siblings and looked to the others. "So, as I was saying. If we can get our hands on that tower and provide us with either the means to communicate galaxy wide or a map with hopefully a tower for such a purpose. Then we will be able to stand a chance."

"What will we exactly communicate to the outside world?" asked the village chief. Wash looked towards Grif and asked for Gamma to step forth. "How may I help you?"

"Gamma, you have been keeping track of all that has happened to us so far right?"

"I have."

"You also have the data Locus originally left us with back on Blood Gulch?"

"Yes, why do you ask?"

"Good," Wash looked at the chief and his soldiers. "We will send out all that info, it will surely shake the New Order up even if it is momentary. But the real kicker comes in on how far we spread this information."

"What do you have in mind?"

"Oh just a little something to completely screw over Equal," Wash replied with a smug grin under his helmet. "We will broadcast it galaxy wide, or at least as far as the tower can handle it. It can help get the word out to the UNSC soldiers as well."

"If it does work and the UNSC are to be trusted this time, then it would certainly help tip the scales in our favor."

"Don't worry," Wash reassured the village chief and his other fellow villagers by saying. "There are good people in the UNSC, not all are bad. We will get through this."

"Oh this bonding moment is wunderbar," Muffins said clapping his hands together. "But we are running out of time gentlemen. If we wish to have some real bonding, why not engage in some good old fashioned _skinship_ under the cover of night?"

"Okay and that's our cue to go," Grif said throwing away another can of beer and leaving to pack things up with the help of others. Washington ordered for the Blood Gulch crew to pack only what they needed, and to leave behind anything that would just weigh them down. He asked for Muffins and his two remaining crew members to be ready at the helicopter they arrived in and prep it for their next flight. The village elder placed a hand on Wash's armor and said. "This is quite a bold and a risky plan. But it is just the way me and my people like it. You can count on our full support."

* * *

In space, where the war waged, the New Order had the edge and the UNSC saw no chance of victory. In a last ditch effort, whatever ships were operational, they sent out all of their weaponry in full bursts.

"Tell the other ships to activate their shields," said the Captain of Angel of Hope. He looked towards his lead weapons specialist and ordered for the release of a special weapon they have saved for last. The bottom few panels on Angel of Hope opened and a jet powered drone descended on clamps. The drone was remotely piloted.

"Pilot the device to the center of the battlefield," said the Captain transferring the coordinates to the pilot. Confirming the site, they activated the onboard cameras and jets to detach from the battleship. Amidst the gun fire and explosions, the small drone was piloted very carefully into the designated spot. _Here is hoping the device works_ , the pilot thought as he inputted a sequence of security codes. Then he activated an activation code and began the countdown timer. "One minute till she explodes sir."

"Good, good."

That minute however went by fast. The UNSC fighter jets could not even get close thanks to their fighting strategy and weapons. The explosion from the drone went off. A blue spherical explosion engulfed the battlefield with its watery texture and complexion. All ships in its vicinity were swallowed whole and disabled for good. It would disable the engine systems, the computers, communications and any other electrical system onboard the ships. But strangely enough for the UNSC, only their ships were affected where as the New Order's fleet was perfectly fine. It was their shields. Those shields were specifically designed to counteract this type of attack. Even an EMP blast as strong as this one could not stop them.

The UNSC was completely helpless. The New Order stood dominant in this battle. The UNSC's defense fleet was now like an injured prey simply struggling for whatever life it had left until it met its end at the hands of the predator. And that predator was so very close. With everyone second gone, the invaders drew closer. With every minute passed, the invaders prepared their guns. With every suffocating breath the UNSC military employees took at their impending doom, the New Order killed of a ship.

There was only death left for the prey now and victory to the predator. The predator made no mistakes and had no hesitation for it was time for them to take hold of their earned victory. It was time for them to begin their campaign of revenge.


	17. I Am Afraid

**Chapter 16: I Am Afraid**

Equal stared at the reports before him with a sense of accomplishment. Their initial attack against the UNSC was a success. The time he imagined for so long was finally here, they had effectively declared war against the UNSC organization. He nodded to his fellow staff and said. "Good, I'm glad to see that at least something is going right for us."

He got up from the dimly lit meeting room and prepared to leave. As he opened the door, he looked back to the others and said. "Remember to keep me posted on the latest developments and any relevant news."

"Yes sir."

Outside the room was Justice patiently awaiting Equal's exit. She looked at the exiting figure and stopped him midway. Equal was surprised to find her here, but then again he also knew her to be a very patient women. _But I guess lately those boundaries of patience have been tested for her, just like mine_. Equal motioned towards the elevator and suggested they walk together. "So, how come you were waiting?"

"I thought it would be a good time to go for some combat practice together."

"It has been a while since we have done that now hasn't it?"

"Yes."

Equal noticed the indifference in her tone. _Yet she wants to go together for training, what is going through her mind?_ He pondered calling the elevator up. "I guess it wouldn't hurt to go at it for an hour, take it easy on me though. I haven't been back to that room for quite a while so I maybe rusty."

* * *

Justice quietly led the way to the training facilities and suggested they do some stretches before a friendly mock fight. He eyed her bending down to stretch her legs. _Why the sudden interest in training together again? I thought for sure that you would have give up on me after all the things I have done to you_. She stood up straight and rested her neck to one side and then to the other. With the twirl of her back, a few satisfying pops escaped her muscles and spine. She shook her legs to help loosen them, make them more flexible and took a stance. "Let's begin."

Equal hurried himself to face Justice on eye level. He held up his arms defensively in front of him and Justice on the other hand had a more balanced posture. She opted to balance out the offense and the defense. Equal felt his pulse rising, _this strange feeling is making my chest ache with anxiety and excitement_. Equal made the first move.

 _It seems that you really have gotten rusty_. Justice countered his punch, twisted his arm behind his back and kicked him down to the ground. Equal picked himself up with a grunt and wiped a bit of spit off of his lips. "I see you are still as cruel in your mock battles."

"Enemies show no kindness in the heat of battle."

Equal cracked his neck and raised his arms again for another bout. This time, it was her who made the first strike. She bent down and tipped him off balance with her foot. He regained it back however pretty fast and swung his fist down to the ground leaving a cushioned spot. Justice stared at the spot before dodging a dangerous swing of his metal arms. _He finally has gotten serious, and yet your blows seem to lack the conviction of a clear mind_.

Justice swung her metal arm down to his shin and caused him to fall down to the mattress. She lifted him up in the air with all her might and threw him back down. With a loud grunt he began to pick himself up rubbing his stomach. "Jesus, you really are going at it hard."

"So are you, and yet-"

"What?"

"You also hold back like the things that bother you from me, from us who care so much about you."

"Not this again Justice," he said standing up, but he was quickly brought to his knees by Justice. She held him by his helmet and said. "A clouded mind is prone to making more mistakes and weakens the body."

"Are you insinuating that I will make more mistakes?"

"It is a possibility. I would much rather avoid that," she replied letting go of his helmet. He looked down at the floor feeling her gaze of death finally brush past him. But that didn't stop her from kicking him down back to the ground. "I would like to avoid it not only for your sake, but for our people as well."

She rested one foot on his chest declaring her victory. Bent down to face his eyes and said. "So, why don't you come clean?"

"There is nothing to come clean about."

* * *

Justice let out an irritated sigh as she motioned her robotic arm in the air. "Do you remember what I was like after the UNSC attack?"

"Why the sudden change of topic?"

"Do you remember?!"

"Yes," he replied lowering his gaze. "I remember it crystal clear."

"I was broken, and raped right in front of my family. Those drunk bastards took pleasure in first breaking my limbs just so I couldn't run anywhere," Justice recalled the past with a feeling of terror. Her mind was very alert, her slight PTSD began to kick in. "Then they tore apart my clothes. But as my parents and brother tried to stop them, they shot them in the legs. Then they tied them up to face me as they finished stripping me. I was nothing but a helpless and powerless girl at that time."

Equal remained quiet, but he felt some anger inside his chest. This anger was motivated by Justice's past. He felt that he needed to leave this room, fly to the front lines and eradicate the UNSC. She however picturing her past continued. "It was when one of them took their dick out I finally understood what was happening. I remember screaming so loud that I could feel my voice beginning to give out. No one would help, no one could help. And then he stuck it in me. He forced it inside me, that helpless feeling of someone defiling you, doing something to you against your will crumbled all of my confidence in myself and belief in humanity."

She let go of him and he slowly stood up. Equal retracted his helmet and a compassionate look greeted her. Justice retracted her helmet with a smile. "That was the same look you gave me when you first found me in the aftermath. I was just lying there helplessly, unable to move and my family had been shot in front of me. The soldiers once thought to do the same to me but instead they just tortured me by cutting of my right arm and left me for dead. Maybe it was fate that you found me that day just as they were taking you to emergency care."

 _Maybe_ , Equal pondered as he could not bear to keep on looking at the painting of the past painted by Justice. She noticed his distress and rested a finger on the underside of his chin. "I was always honest with you from the start. Whenever I called you my hero and savior after that, I meant it. It was because of you that I have managed to make some progress on this PTSD of mine, it is because of you that I have found a new place to belong to. I always shared my thoughts and feelings with you whenever it was something that bothered me too much. So won't you do the same for me?"

 _I just can't do it_ , Equal contemplated turning to walk away with a rather sad look. "Let's call it quits here for today."

"That's it!" Justice shouted turning him around and pinning him down to the ground! Equal looked surprised at the sudden increase in her strength. _She was holding back all this time?!_ He looked up to see her irritated and rage induced look. "Equal, I am fucking fed up with this treatment of being pushed to the sidelines everytime I bring up something about any troubles you may be having! You chose to be there for me, I chose to be there for you and we basically became like family to one another, so why this bloody treatment?!"

She sat atop him, keeping him from both squirming and leaving to go anywhere. He looked away from her and she forcibly turned his face back to hers. "We promised to be there for one another ever since all of us decided to embark on this journey. I just want to be there for you like I want you to be there for me. This is the point of being true friends, comrades and to an extent, family after all."

* * *

 _Family huh, I guess that's accurate. After all, we are all we have_. Equal rested his head back against the mat and finally gave in. But where to start was the challenge for him. "I suppose I do have a confession to make."

Justice was delighted to know her intuition was correct. She listened closely to what he had to say and hoped to be of some help to him. He looked up to the ceilings at the bright lights and his mind wandered, and he simply let out the confession in its rawest form. "Lately things around me feel like they are growing out of control. So many unexpected events have taken place, events that threaten not only our peace as a colony but the actions we take for the greater good of our people."

Justice gave him quite a sympathetic look. _And to think that you would decide to carry on this type of burden all by yourself_. He rested his eyes and said. "Listen Justice, I know I have been very distant lately. I know I have been very harsh with our own people but I do so because I don't want the sacrifices we have had to make in the past to be a waste. The things I forced onto the people of the planet is not something I exactly feel proud of, but it was necessary."

"I know," she replied giving him a sense of comfort and affinity.

"I don't feel proud of the damage we have done to the people and the planet. I don't feel proud of the extremely dangerous weather system we created just to keep those people trapped on the planet. I don't feel proud of how I am so fucking weak. I couldn't even protect Truth or Pure," Equal said smashing his hand against the mattress. Anger was beginning to boil in his veins. "I also don't feel proud of being responsible for the death of Locus, one of my closest friends. I could not even do something like convince him to stay with us."

"But his mind was made up and so he chose to follow through with his own decision."

"I know, I know…I just wish that wasn't the case."

There were a few minutes of silence. The two looked at one another with sadness on their faces. They were both broken people only looking to heal, and the New Order was a means for that healing. But it seems as if the New Order didn't have the effects Equal had hoped for. "Dammit, I just feel like my body is slowly collapsing under the weight of these thoughts. It feels like every strand of my being in my head is being torn apart and that soon there may be nothing left. Guilt is a scary weapon if one thinks about it."

 _Is this pity I feel for him?_ Justice rested her forehead on his and the two closed their eyes. This was the first time the two had gotten so physically close, they had always been close emotionally to one another but never physically. It was time that they thought to cross that barrier as well as family. She let out a warm breath coating his lips. "Thank you for being honest with me. I am glad that you were able to finally open up to me again."

He looked up at her surprised. _That was not the reaction I was expecting_. She smiled down at him caringly and said. "You don't have to burden these things alone Equal. We are both a bunch of people who were dealt a bad deal. Together we chose to overcome the challenges that seemed insurmountable, and yet here we are. We can continue to overcome things together from now on as well."

But her smile slowly withered away leaving only a guilty ridden face. "I know that the guilt you feel is something I could never understand, but know this that you are not alone. I too feel guilty for the things I have had to do in the past, and even some things we still do. But it was all to improve the lives of those who rightfully deserve justice."

Equal began to stand up and pushed her off. She looked at him concerned with worry as he began to walk away. Before leaving the room however he stopped to look back one last time with a scared expression. "I am also scared at the same time Justice."

"Scared of what?"

"I'm scared of hurting you. These outbursts of anger, the rage that consumes me as I proceed to do things that are essentially out of my control cause me great fear for hurting you. I feel like I am slowly losing control," he replied looking down at the floor. Even now he felt guilty for beating that New Order messenger before. But at the same time he remembered taking some pleasure in it no matter how out of his control it was. "I continue to lose control and I am afraid of doing something to you that would put us on opposing sides, or worse."

He left the room, and with it he left behind an extremely distressed Justice. She looked down at the mattress and in a bout of frustration she landed a hard blow causing permanent damage to it. _In the end all I can do is keep a close eye on him. Just like back then, I am still so powerless no matter what new fancy gadgets or strength I gain. Even my voice is too weak, unable to pierce through to him, I feel so fucking helpless!_

* * *

In the underground rebel facility aboard the space station, the Blood Gulch crew alongside the rebel members were busy planning and preparing. The man left to be the second in command had made sure to take quick charge of any disarray that followed the news of Samuels' death. He had cleared up things and gotten the operations back in working order relatively fast. One of the rebel soldiers raised their hand and asked. "So how will we exactly do this strike on Equal's tower?"

The rebel leader brought up a holographic 3D map display and pointed to the various routes that led into Equal's tower. "We will disguise ourselves as a delivery supply truck and get inside that way."

"Okay, but where will you get a supply truck from?" asked Tucker.

"We already have one," the leader replied as he brought up a few reports about it. "We also finished salvaging it to look just like the ones currently being used by the New Order."

"Convenient," said Doc quickly overtaken by O'Malley. "And the perfect way to enact some glorious murder from within!"

"To sneak in, we will have most of us hiding in led boxes," the leader said bringing up an image. "It will make getting past the scanners easier."

The leader pointed to another rebel member and himself. "The drivers will be us two, so it's up to us to not raise suspicion while getting you all inside. From there on we will also let you out of the boxes and into the tower. Then we will split off into two teams. One will go after the security office while the other goes after Equal."

"How do we know that he will actually be there?" asked a rebel member. The leader looked at the man with a confident look and said. "Our intel says that he will be there. Plus the live data feed backdoor we managed to establish into his servers don't indicate anything of him being away on that day."

"In that case," Sarge said looking around at his fellow Blood Gulch soldiers. They all nodded to one another, while Caboose nodded to the floor. They just took that as his sign of understanding. "I want to volunteer us for the team that hunts down Equal. I have a shotgun filled with vengeance and an itchy trigger finger."

"Are you sure? It will be dangerous."

"We are sure," Tucker replied remembering back to the grip Samuels had on his hand in their last few moments together. "We made a promise to him."

"And we keep our promises!" Caboose shouted innocently. "Isn't that right Freckles?"

"Yes Captain Caboose."

"Alright then," the leader replied shutting off the holographic display table and motioned for them to disband. "We have our plan, so just get your rest as we will put this into action come tomorrow."

* * *

They all disband with Lopez coming up to the soldiers and presenting a new set of weapons. They were all ecstatic to see the work the Spanish robot had been doing in secret ever since Samuels came back with the last set of weapons. They studied the smooth, and slick look of the guns but at the same time the dangerous fury red lights that went through it. Sarge picked up a laser gun shaped like a shotgun and aimed it in the air. "Good work Lopez, that's some fine craftsmanship right here."

"Yeah, now we can go disintegrating people," said O'Malley very happy to receive this gift. "Murder-ville, here I come mwhaahaha!"

"Pew! Pew! Pew!" Caboose shouted pointing the gun in the air making laser noises. Tucker grabbed the gun tightly and gritted his teeth together. _Whether it is a gun or a sword, he will pay_. Lopez turned around to walk back to his quarters saying. "[Whatever, I can only hope that one of us dies on this mission to ease my suffering in being forced to stay with you idiots.]"

Everyone went back to their bunks. Laid down their arms and rested their heads on the pillow. They all knew that tomorrow was going to be a revolutionary day for this space colony. _Come tomorrow and things are going to change, a lot_.

* * *

 **A/N: So how did you all like the little backstory to Justice. If you found it to be too dark, hey I did say at the start that we are going grim here :).**

 **Hope you all enjoyed the chapter and as always, thank you for taking the time to read and support!**

 **~ Monty Mason**


	18. Galactic Message

**Chapter 17: Galactic Message**

The wind hit his armor hard. He could feel it seeping through the very tiny holes in his suit. The cold air felt punishing amidst the speed they flew at in their helicopter. Washington did his best to keep his mind off of the cold and looked at how the others were faring. _About as well I would have expected of them to_ , he thought seeing their shaking forms who seemed to complain ever few minutes or so. He turned to see Carolina and Simmons, both of them sat quietly waiting to reach their destination. _At least some of us are faring better in this cold, even if such attitude from them is a little worrisome_.

"How are we doing for time?" asked Wash of the pilots. One of them looked at the map they had retrieved ahead of time from one of the towers they originally wanted to visit. As luck would have it, there just so happened to be a similar communications tower like on Chorus. Studying the marked coordinates and their current position, the pilot confirmed. "It would be about another five minutes or so. I would go ahead and get the team ready sir."

"Alright, thanks," Wash turned back to walk to the seating area and looked all around. "I will be leading this expedition, any problems?"

No concerns were raised, and all were in favor. Wash nodded his head and said. "Good, then remember to follow my every order and only take risky actions when there is no other way to approach or escape from a situation."

The helicopter began to descend. The pilot looked back from the cockpit and shouted. "Sir, we will be landing a little ways off from the tower. We can't afford to give away our presence here if there is anyone at the tower."

"Understood," Wash replied motioning for the others to stand. They all took their weapons and attached them onto their armors. Washington stopped Carolina and Simmons from standing up and motioned for them to sit back down. The helicopter touched the ground safely and soon shut off its motors. He turned to Muffins and motioned towards his two allies. "Watch after them for me will you Captain?"

"You are leaving us behind?" Simmons asked distraught at the sudden exchange of words between Muffins and Wash. The grey soldier turned to simply nod at him. "I can't risk the mission going wrong with you two possibly going amuck out there."

"Who said we would do such a thing?" Carolina asked angrily. She fought against his hard grip on her shoulder. Her strength was strong enough to overpower five men with his strength. Wash gritted his teeth and cursed in the back of his head. "I meant that I don't want to risk you two losing control. We are dealing with the New Order after all. It is best that you two save your strength for when we actually fight Equal."

That name alone was enough to put the two on edge. They stopped to struggle against Washington's strength and sat back down obediently. He let out a relieved sigh and said. "Thank you, and should anything happen you guys will be our backup alongside the Captain and his crew."

"Ready to go?" asked Donut as Washington exited the heli. He nodded to the group and motioned for them to follow. The wind did not help make this walk to their target any easier. They kept their senses on high alert. No longer could they now rest as they once did behind the comforts of a wall and warm fire. The feeling of being on the frontlines they once felt on Chorus began to resurface. _To again fight a war on a foreign planet, totally like Chorus_. Many of them thought and kept their guns aimed in front of them.

* * *

They were very near their target now. So near that Wash could feel his heart pounding away to burst out of his chest. He stopped the group and motioned for them to take certain positions. "Remember, right now we only recon. If you see something then report back and do not take any actions."

They all went to a few sets of small hills. Wash and the others took out their binoculars and zoomed in towards the tower. Wash was quickly alerted to enemy presence as he saw a squad on patrol. _Great, just our luck_. He radioed into the others and said. "We got trouble guys. I just spotted an enemy squad patrolling close to the tower."

"What do we do?" asked Grif itching to test out his new alien sword. Wash stated his intentions in a stern voice to make it clear to the whole group. "I will go in and handle this. You guys just watch, if I'm in trouble then screw it I guess. Come in guns blazing."

Wash slid down the mountain and approached the group from the back. He took out a knife from the back and knocked out two soldiers at the very back. The others didn't fail to notice this and quickly trained their guns on him. Shouting orders to surrender, Washington moved between the soldiers with expert precision and slashed their legs. He quickly proceeded to knock the soldiers unconscious and leave one lone soldier awake. The freelancer approached the still conscious soldier and cracked his knuckles. "Well, lucky you."

The others in Wash's squad came up from behind him with their guns aimed his way. The soldier felt his whole body shiver with one sarcastic thought in the back of his head. _Yeah, lucky me_. Washington bent down beside the soldier, took off his helmet and applied some pressure with his knife in the enemy's right leg. "So, here is how this is going to work. I ask, and you answer. If you remain quiet, the knife goes deeper. If you don't cooperate, well I may just go ahead and pop your kneecap off, I mean it wouldn't be so bad to walk with a stick or a walker now would it?"

"I- I will do my best!"

"That's the spirit," Grif taunted the man with a grin. The others formed a perimeter leaving for Washington to conduct his interrogation in peace. Washington slowly moved the knife around in the man's leg causing him to nearly burst out in cries. But the grey soldier reacted quickly and placed his hand on the man's mouth. "Just bear with it for a bit. Let's start by getting you used to this feeling."

The man had finally calmed down and Wash proceeded to question. "How many people are here?"

"I don't know exactly," the man answered but quickly added to it after seeing Wash's hand move a little. "B- But I know that there are a group of scientists here to study the tower, and two more squads of soldiers to help protect them. Some of those squads have some high ranking military officials in them."

"See, was that so hard?"

The enemy remained quiet still paralyzed by the fear. Washington looked around to see their situation and studied the enemy soldier. "Before I leave, do you have anything else to add to your answer?"

The man shook his head. Wash nodded his head as he retrieved the knife. The man was relieved to see the metal object excavated out of his body. He looked up at Wash who stood towered over him with an uncertain look. "You will let me go now right?"

"Sure, in a bit."

"In a bit?" and the man was drooling down onto the ground as he took a small nap. Washington stretched his leg thinking. _What a thick headed lug_. He cleaned the knife off and walked away. "Thank you for your cooperation."

* * *

Everyone else gathered close to Wash and upon his orders followed him. After a few more minutes of eventless walking, they finally managed to reach the tower. Many of them felt their hearts drop and with it their confidence. Wash bit his lips. _I was really hoping he would have been wrong about the soldiers and the scientists_. "Alright so here is what's going to happen. I will go ahead and clear out as many as I can quietly. If they notice me, then forget about being quiet."

"Whatever you say," said Grif sitting down against a rock formation with his hands behind his head. Washington took out his knife and jumped down a small cliff. He landed quietly and began to survey his surroundings. _Only rocks and some bushes, this should be interesting_. He moved into one of the bushes and waited for a soldier to walk past. Wash slowly exited the bush with light feet and took hold of the enemy by the neck. He inflicted multiple stabs into the enemy soldier's back until they were motionless. Leaving the body behind in a bush, he began to tail a group of two patrol men.

The two patrol men came to a stop and with them so did Wash. He hid behind a rock and waited for them to turn around, as soon as they began to go the other way Wash ran up behind the two and smashed their heads together. Two more were down.

"What was that noise?"

Washington heard an unknown voice close by. Before he could be spotted by a stray spotlight searching the area, he managed to hide behind the rock. The enemy soldier came rushing up to the bodies and bent down to study them. They were still alive, but the same could not be said for this curious man. Wash let out a loud enough whistle to reach the man's ears and attracted him in that direction. "Who is there?"

Wash quickly swung around from his cover and stabbed the soldier in the abdomen. He dragged the now limp body back to his hiding spot and ran with the wind. Wash jumped into a bush and looked all around. _Doing this stealthily may take too much time after all_. He looked at the grenades on his belt, looked back to the cliff he left the others at and grinned under his helmet. _Time to make them do some work as well I suppose_.

Taking out his pistol, he jumps out into plan view and throws three grenades. The once ordered soldiers quickly disperse from the grave danger. The grenades explode and panic quickly blankets the battlefield. Washington runs from cover to cover shooting down his targets. He aims for their vital points to make it a quick death. His team jumps down to the battlefield and opens fire. While many of them only manage to hit their targets thanks to their AI fragments, they still feel a sense of accomplishment of having contributed to the fight. The last of the stragglers were down and only the scientists remained.

"I bet Simmons would get along great with these guys," said Donut studying all the various technical equipment on the many platforms around them. Washington walked into the middle of the scientific group and activated his speaker set in his helmet. "Attention everyone, if you don't want to lose your head over this then I highly suggest that you put down everything and leave now."

Many of them as expected complied. Washington knew things were going well and that they were performing well as far as mission time went. He looked over at Grif. "You know what to do."

"Hey Microsoft Sam, I need you here," Grif called out to Gamma activating his sword. He walked over to a similar panel that was activated via the sword. "Are you ready?"

"Simply activate the tower and I will handle the rest," assured Gamma.

* * *

On the front lines of the waging war, the UNSC ships were falling like flies to the overwhelming numbers and strength of the New Order. After many losses, the UNSC defense fleet Captain had to make the difficult decision of a retreat. "Order every ship to retreat."

With their electronics down, they had to make do with other methods of communication. A few UNSC space trained soldiers entered the vacuum, and with the aid of their gravity boots they stuck to the ship. All of them lit up red flares that shined brightly. But not all of the UNSC ships could see the light amidst the darkness. Soon however the ships were coming back online, the EMP drone's effect wore off. The UNSC began to retaliate and in response the attacking fleet sent out more drones. The defense yet again was short lived as the drones were thorough in their work. The Captain of the defense fleet smashed his fist against a panel in frustration. "These bastards won't even let us retreat from the fight?!"

The Captain aboard the Angel of Hope reached for the communication panel and relayed a message to all ships. "Let's move onto the final phase of this battle people. Begin with boarding and raiding the UNSC ships, make sure no survivors remain but the captains. Kill them after they give us their codes so that we may take over the ships completely."

Slowly reeling in close to the UNSC ships, the New Order fleet established a connection from one ship to the other. The slaves from the planet, the drafted soldiers were all forced to hold a gun and told to fight for their pathetic lives. Many of them ran in their cheaply designed space armor, the one in the front would plant a small explosive on the UNSC ship hatch and lead the rest inside. Once inside they were faced with gunfire as it was to be expected. The UNSC would not go down so easily, not without a fight.

Bzzzt!

Everyone felt their ears cringe at the sudden static echoing in their suits. Everyone in the fight stopped firing momentarily and looked at their radios.

"Testing, testing, this is the AI fragment, designation Gamma transmitting on all frequencies."

 _What the hell is this?_ Many of them wondered as they looked to one another in confusion. All of them wanted answers, the Captains were confused themselves. The Angel of Hope's Captain looked at his closest associate and ordered the following. "Find out where this transmission is coming from."

"This message is being transmitted across many galaxies. I request a moment of your time to tell you all a certain truth that has been kept not only from the people of other worlds but the UNSC as well. I ask of you to listen to the story of the New Order."

Aboard the space station, Equal sat shaken by this declaration. As Gamma spoke of the inception and brutalities of the New Order, he felt his anger rise. _How did they manage to get to the communication tower? Useless the lot of them, all of our soldiers are useless!_ He pressed a button to his right as he saw various cruel and morally questionable images pop up in the transmission. "Get me our security and information department."

Sarge stood still proudly with a smile under his helmet. _I knew you boys would still be alive_. He eyed Tucker staring at the screen in disbelief, but relieved all the same. "Looks like someone was wrong blue."

"Yeah, yeah okay I was wrong," admitted Tucker and he was relieved to say that. "I wonder what stories they will be bringing back once we all meet up."

"Aren't those the pictures from the data Locus gave to us initially?" Doc asked studying the various space colony images and specs. The pictures also included themes of slavery and inequality on the planet under the New Order's control as Gamma would narrate such themes. From what Gamma had been able to determine based on his experiences, he relayed in his message. "The difference in the quality of life is big, almost like Earth and Moon apart. People on the planet are oppressed for believing something that the New Order would not approve of. They are forced into a fight they never chose to support or ever wanted to be a part of. They all just wanted to lead a peaceful life."

Just as the information department stepped into his office, he stood up and ordered for a full retreat of the message drones that hovered over the various parts of the colony daily. His message had been overwritten by the one being transmitted. _This is a major fuck up and I will see that the teams responsible for the defense of the tower will pay!_

Just as the drones turned around to retreat, the pictures of the Blood Gulch crew played one by one. "Remember this Equal, we have seen some of your atrocities first hand and we do not forget nor do we forgive so easily. You will be brought to justice. We are coming for you."

Inside the Sangheli embassy, Junior looked at the monitor amidst the crowd of his brothers and sisters. _Father…_ He wondered with worry at what misadventures Tucker managed to get himself wrapped up in now. Junior looked down from the screen to a few of his closely trusted friends. They all nodded towards him and he eyed a Covenant Cruiser ship.

The crew on the station alongside the rebel group were even more pumped now. They knew the major blow Equal's organization would take because of this and that it presented a great opportunity to present further blows. Beat an already weakened organization down till it's nothing, and victory shall be theirs. They all cheered on and amidst the noise, they all felt the motivations rising and inspiration running high in their blood.

The citizens in the streets looked up at the media drones confused. Some were beginning to question what they had heard and the New Order's existence, while many others remained fiercely loyal to those that had led them this far. To any who questioned Equal's morality and whether he was capable to committing such horror, they were brought down with such labels as 'traitors' or 'heretics'. Many of his supporters still blindly believed him to be a benevolent man capable of no wrong doings.

* * *

A man from the security department enters Equal's office with an apologetic and scared look. "I- I'm sorry sir, we were unable to stop the transmission completely. And it seems that it is playing on a loop still throughout any active media devices including things like phones."

That was it. That was the last straw. There was only so much that Equal could take. He felt it slipping, the rage boiled from deep within his mind like an active volcano. His urges told him to just let go, shower in the rage and let it drive his will forward. Knocking his chair backwards, stepping atop his desk and jumping high into the air, he landed atop the messenger and beat his jaw in hard with his left fist!

The stress was unfolding, and with it so was his image. His work all seemed to be growing meaningless with every action the Blood Gulch crew took to thwart his plans. "All of you are fucking useless at your bloody jobs! I ask for you to maintain strict control, and protect our network. But you can't even do that!"

He punched the man in the nose causing some blood to spray on the floor. He bashed the man's head in causing a loud crack to echo in the room. The others could only look in horror just like before. They were all rightfully questioning Equal's behavior and intent now. Those that had not known of what really happened under the happy and joyous picture painted by the New Order were now opening their eyes. But this did not mean that the people in the organization were any safer from Equal's wrath or anyone else for that matter. Everyone had a target painted across their foreheads now.

Equal broke the man's teeth with a single swing. The messenger went limp already near death. Equal stopped to take in deep breaths and look at his work of terror. The floor around them was painted in a bloody red. The others in the room were shaken down to their core with fear, and paralyzed by it. They could not say anything and could not do anything. Equal raised his hands together and smashed the man's nose in. His face became almost unrecognizable.

* * *

Justice outside of the office heard the scantily audible noises and against her better judgement she investigated. Opening the door to his office she found the body on the floor, by the side stood Equal with his fists and armor covered in blood. She rushed over to the man's side. She was able to thankfully still get a pulse out of him. Equal was about to go in for another punch, this time to the man's ribs. Justice stopped him in his tracks. "Stop this at once! Don't do this. Don't go over to that insane world anymore than you already have!"

He pushed her away and glared up at her. "You dare to question me again. I have been overlooking it all this time but every time you disagree with me on these matters, you sound like a traitor!"

He pointed her way and said. "You either stand by my side Justice…"

He motioned his thumb across his own neck. "Or you stand against the people of this colony and the New Order."

She marched his way and glared at him. The two stared one another down. She took in a deep breath and huffed. "I stand with our people, but not to condemn such vile acts. Doing this makes us no better than what the UNSC did to us in the past. Condemning this would mean sacrificing my personal beliefs and thoughts just for the sake of the colony as you make it seem. I will never be a mindless drone!"

He looked at her with a frown. Her answer did not bode will with him. _Why could you not just be obedient like the others?_ He wondered in this growing rage. Equal so desperately wanted to raise his hand against her, to punch her down to the ground and eliminate yet another obstacle in his way. _No, she isn't an obstacle…not yet. She is just someone who sees things differently, and maybe that could endanger my vision in the end after all_. He managed to gain a second of control, he turned around and threw his table aside.

Justice was prepared to take any blows he would throw her way. But instead he did not and for that she was grateful. _At least he still has some control it seems_. She turned to one of the staff members and told them to call for an ambulance.

"Leave the cretin be."

They all froze at the words. Justice could not believe such words coming out of Equal's mouth. _I thought you would be willing to change and get better. It seems that you like to prove me wrong_. She argued why. Equal had no answer to give to her aside from the one he always did. "I have no use for weaklings."

Equal faced the staff member and said. "No ambulance, instead strip him of everything. That also includes his clothing, and eject him into space."

"Do you know what you are even saying?" she asked with her mind still in turmoil over his words. "Do you understand how insane your order sounds?"

"I already said I have no use for the weak," Equal responded looking at the body being dragged away. "Everyone in this colony must conform to being strong, or else they can be ejected into space. The weak will only breed more weak."

Equal heard a new noise originating from his radio. Justice heard it as well. It was coming from the special frequency they dedicated to the war effort. The noise cleared up to the cries of the soldiers from the frontlines. Equal was distraught to hear this, he was not expecting this at all. He thought to hear words of victory, not of cries.

"Sir, we can hear multiple new boogies coming in!" shouted a soldier. Equal ordered for the soldier to slow down and asked for an explanation. According to the soldier, ever since that message from the planet relayed, the UNSC began sending in reinforcements. It seems they put two and two together to figure out that one of their fleets was under attack and no doubt they would send some to the station as well. The message did contain the planet's and the space station's coordinates after all. "We don't have enough of the EMP drones, what do we do sir? We need instructions, we need an escape!"

Suddenly the radio went silent. Equal gritted his teeth at the worrying silence. "Hello, are you still there? Hello?!"

He tried, and he failed to get through. Justice already knew that their advantage was lost and this war had just become a huge tide slowly coming towards them. They had to do whatever they could now to prepare for such a storm. Equal kicked his chair away loudly cursing. Justice looked behind her and gently guided the rest out of the office. She spared a few words of apology to them on his behalf, but she understood that it was of no consolation to their already paralyzed minds.

She walked back inside the office and pinned him up to a wall. "Get your act together Equal! We are now on the losing end and you need to know what you are doing. I don't need any of this psychotic rage fucking things up for us! If you don't quickly learn to be the leader you once were to us then you really will have no one left by your side, not even me."

* * *

Gamma reappeared besides Grif. "It is done. The message has finished looping several times now."

The tower deactivated. Washington looked down from the tower to his two comrades. "Good job, now I imagine we will be having some company soon."

"Yeah, about that…," Donut replied in a shaken tone. They all looked up to see the various ships flying down from the clouds. Sister raised her weapons up towards them and said. "Meh, this is nothing compared to that one time I raided the medical center for some morphine and had the whole base of fifty guys _coming_ for me. It got _sweaty and messy_ real fast. Thankfully they didn't have as much stamina as me."

"You just had to make this weird, didn't you?" Grif questioned as he studied the ships land down and several New Order soldiers exit to surround them. One of them walked out in a different looking armor. _That one must be the leader_ , thought Washington as he prepared his pistol. The leader prepared to speak. "Lay down your weapons!"

"Oh yeah?" Grif held out his arms in an intimidating manner. "You and what army?!"

"We have a hundred men here you twat!" the leader shouted back.

"Wow what a sausage-fest," Sis interjected only to have Grif turn her way and shout back. "Okay, seriously, stop making this weird!"

The leader observed the banter and felt his intelligence leaving him every second the siblings spoke. "Okay you know what, fuck it! Just shoot them boys."

The enemy prepared to open fire and was quickly taken off guard by a new variable added to the battlefield. The rebellion group on the planet stormed the battle and gunned down several soldiers in their way. The enemy turned to look around and were gunned down from the other direction. They turned to look there and were again gunned down from another direction. No matter where they looked, they were surrounded.

One of the rebellion men came up to the Blood Gulch crew and respectfully nodded his head at them all. "Nice work, we could hear the message clearly. It is sure to leave a sour taste in that asshole's mouth."

"Why are you here?" Wash asked pleasantly surprised. The rebellion soldier grinned widely and said. "We couldn't let our brothers and sisters be left out for the lions now could we? Remember, as long as you are still here on this planet, you can count on us for support. Now let's go kick some ass!"

"Halleluiah for convenience," stated Grif as he opened fire at the enemy soldiers. Many of them were easily gunned down and the path to their victory seemed to be getting closer.


	19. Demon

**Chapter 18: Demon**

Amidst the gun fire in the disordered battlefield, the New Order soldiers were dropping like flies. From their front were the Blood Gulch soldiers, and from their back were the rebellion fighters. One of the soldiers dropped dead and Grif proclaimed. "Boom, headshot! Did you guys see that?"

"It only counts if you call it!" said Wash rushing forward into the battle lines.

"Oh what a load of crap dude!"

With the aid of the fragments, they had managed to cut down the numbers quite significantly. Only a few remained now and victory was in their sights. That was until they noticed more ships descending from the air. It was time for wave two. Washington let out an expected sigh. _I really should not have hoped for any less now should I?_

Muffins took notice of the ships and hailed Agent Washington. "Hello Agent Washington, how goes your very important and not so secret mission?"

"Well they are coming at us from all angles-"

"Oh my…," said Muffins in a rather questionably arousing tone.

"We have got more enemies coming in to get a piece of the action-"

"Oh my!"

"Okay do you need a time out Muffins?"

"Oh no, no do continue. This is so very arousing ja."

"Bleh!"

"Are you alright Agent Washington?"

"Yeah, just threw up a little in my mouth is all. Why did you call me again?"

"Oh I just wanted to see how you were all doing. I mean I could talk about my life story right now if you would like."

 _Please god no_ , thought Wash keeping his head down in his cover. "No thanks Muffins, I would much rather get out of this in one piece first."

"Then the life story ja?"

"No."

Washington stuck out partially from his cover and shot down three enemies successively. "Anyways, we are all a little busy right now with the New Order soldiers."

"Well you better finish up with them quickly because there are more headed your way to get a piece of the _pie_."

Washington again threw up a little in his helmet. _I wish I knew how to filter out half the stuff he says_. He jumped over from his cover and shot a few others running to his next piece of cover. Wash ducked down and saw how spread out his group had become. "Keep it together guys. Make sure to back one another up."

"A little busy not getting fried here," said Donut throwing out a few grenades. He heard Sister giggle by his side. _Don't you say it_ , he thought. But she said it anyways much to his annoyance. "Fried like fried donuts that is."

"Grif," Donut called up the orange soldier taking cover and telling Sister to keep hers out. "Can I let the enemy have your sister?"

"Meh, sure why not? Pretty sure she would still manage to slut her way out of that situation."

* * *

Wave after wave they began to feel the fatigue of the battle settle in. The rebellion was beginning to suffer casualties, and they lost some good men. As much as they wanted to grieve the loss, time did not permit them such luxury. They had to continue to fight. Wash watched another ship land. _That's the fourth one now. Just how many expendable mooks do they have just to take care of a few people?_

He looked at his remaining forces and broadcasted a message to them. "Listen up everyone. To any who has smoke grenades, I need you to release them against the enemy. I will take that opportunity to flank and take out as many as I can from the back. You guys at the same time will give me suppressing fire."

Everyone agreed to the plan. Wash knew that they had to get a move on with their retreat, or better yet commandeer themselves one of these ships and make an escape towards the space station. A few released their smoke grenades as soon as Wash moved out and circled to the back of the enemy. "I'm now on the move."

Many more smoke grenades flew out into the battlefield and created several clouds of smoke. The shroud covered the field which the enemy occupied. Washington activated his thermal vision and ran in shooting several of the soldiers down. He ran fast into the smoke and cut down those in his way, and shot those farther away from him. He was a murdering machine. He nearly took out half the platoon all on his own. But the enemy became wiser and started firing behind them. Washington bit his bottom lip with a silent cuss and ran for cover. "Uh, I could use some help now guys."

"You heard the man," shouted one of the rebellion fighters as he aimed his gun towards the smoke. "Give it all you have got men!"

A barrage of bullets pierced the thick smoke and painted the ground with crimson red. The blood of the enemies was soaked into the soil. It was an absolute massacre for the New Order soldiers. There was no one left, or so they thought. Washington noticed one left still alive. He approached the enemy shot in the leg and called for a few of the rebellion fighters over. One nearly drew his gun on him only to be stopped by Wash. "Leave him alive, we need him to help us. I was hoping that one of you knew some basic first aid to help patch him up."

"I do," said one of the fighters with a hand raised in the air. He approached the injured soldier with his med kit out and earned some words of gratitude from Washington. He called Muffins over the radio and told him to be ready. "Get Simmons and Carolina over to our position."

"What's going on?"

"We found a way to get back to the colony and infiltrate the space station undetected. That is until we are inside at least."

"Wunderbar, I shall make quick with my spindly legs to your position with the others ja."

"Okay…," Wash hung up on the Captain beginning to think of just how weird Muffins was. He called over Grif and the others to prep one of the New Order ships. He asked for Gamma to hack into the ship's controls and gain full access before their departure. Washington began cleanup and left a message of few words for the village chief with one of the rebellion fighter.

* * *

…Equal angrily punched the barrier. This time he caused a crack to appear and a strong pressure escaped the barrier. The barrier began to crack completely with the peaceful side becoming tainted by the void. The happy Equal looked all around and his once pure eyes turned dark. "You are so alone that you can't even help but drag others down with you."

 _What is going on?_ Equal wondered as he saw the darkness absorb his image completely. Out of the darkness, he could begin to see an outline. Horns formed on what was once Equal's head. Wings began to spread out of his back. Claws extended from both his hands and feet. Dark purple scales covered his whole body with a red shroud of fog. But the most disturbing aspect of this new being before him was the creature's eyes. The eyes were one to easily instill fear and fracture one's mind easily. Those eyes were filled with unending hate.

 _Is this what I have become?_ Equal wondered suddenly feeling some supernatural gravity acting on his body. It drew him closer to this satanic beast against his will. Like a puppet attached to a string, no matter how hard it would fight it must still obey the will of its master, Equal had to obey the will of his unknown and mysterious puppeteer as it raised his arm up towards the beast. _What the hell? Let go of me!_ Equal pondered struggling so very hard against this force.

This time, the demon pulled Equal to the other side and switched places with him. Funny thing about it was that he did not even bother resisting. But at the same time it was curious for him to not resist against such a demonic force. The demon now stood on the side of the bodies and it's visage of flames began to seep from its body. The crimson flames burned even brighter now with them slowly consuming all. The demon slowly turned to face him with a growl. It was a growl most foul reeking of impurity.

 _Is this my hate, and is this what it will bring in the end to me?_ Equal wondered. He watched the flames light a path in this dark void, and yet at the same time it made his mind anxious. _Have I been consumed by hate completely to the point of no return? Am I now on this other side still filled with that dark void and completely alone?_

Equal heard a set of footsteps behind him. He was afraid, too afraid to turn and look at what approached his way at a moderate pace. _No, I have to look. I can't be so afraid!_ He turned and saw a figure standing before him. The body of the person he thought to never meet again and left him with a shocking impression…

Equal slowly opened his eyes and found his bed sheets and pillows to be disordered again. His skin was coated in sweat and his eyes were shaded in light red. _It was that same lucid nightmare…how long must I endure this?!_

* * *

Tucker, Sarge, Caboose, Doc and Lopez all prepared their guns. They looked at their respective fragments for confirmation of readiness. They all nodded to one another and knew that they were ready. Storing the weapons behind their backs and onto the sides of their thigh armor, they walked outside the base to the supply delivery truck.

By the truck stood the rebel leader, he opened up the back of the truck up for the crew to step into. He unscrewed some of the boxes for their teams to get into. "Not the most comfy ride you will have but it will get you inside the tower."

"Just make sure to get us out when we get there," said Tucker balling up inside of one of the boxes. Sarge agreed with the blue soldier's words. "Yeah, I would hate to miss giving Equal his just dues."

"Don't you guys worry," the leader again reassured them all. "We will get it done together."

They placed the lids atop the boxes and screwed it back on. There was complete darkness and all that they could tell was only through noise. The truck's engine started and through the various vibrations they knew they were on the move. _Finally we are taking a major step towards Equal_. But they all had to worry at the same time as well. They were all concerned about what may happen on this mission. They certainly wanted to avoid what happened with Locus and Samuels again.

* * *

In a dimly lit, yet dark meeting room were several figures sitting around an oval shaped table. Around the table were many holographic screens projecting numbers, visual graphs and video clips taken from the frontlines. Equal sat with his hands crossed and his forehead against his thumbs. "So, you must have all heard about our losses on the front lines by now I presume?"

The military advisors remained quiet, but nodded their heads. Before they were confident, but now they were scared. They were scared not only of this war that suddenly shifted tides, but of Equal as well and rightfully so. He eyed every one of them, as soon as his gaze would fixate on them their heads would go down. Equal knew his reputation has forever been damaged. "The reason I called for this meeting is to discuss the next steps we should be taking. The UNSC turned the tides very quickly on us and since that insidious message containing our location was broadcasted, no doubt the UNSC would be preparing to send an attacking fleet our way now. So I ask again, what do we do?"

"From the reports," one of the advisors said in a quiet voice, afraid to speak up and possibly meet the wraith of Equal's fists. "Many of our ships on the frontlines have been either damaged or completely destroyed. Some of them have been raided by the UNSC counter-attack fleet and no doubt are holding our forces prisoner. Most won't even be able to make it back here in one piece."

"Then the best we could do is form a defensive line around the station for the impeding attack with what we have left," said another advisor raising his hand in the air. The others agreed all around the table leaving Equal with only one option. He closed shut his eyes under the weight of his responsibilities and finally nodded his head. "Fine, give the order to set up a strong defensive fleet. I don't want even one enemy ship making it past them do you understand?"

"Yes sir," many of them said in unison and fear struck by how agitated Equal sounded. He felt backed into a corner already. _This had better work, not just for my sake but for all our sakes_. Many of the advisors stood up to leave. Equal stopped one of the staff members from the information department for a status update. "How is the response coming along to that message spread by the invaders?"

"Sir," the information officer turned around with a confident look. _I presume this is something good then_ , thought Equal. The information officer pointed to a holographic monitor and displayed several media drones already in the air. "The counter-message we created to argue against the propaganda of the invaders is projected to have a one-hundred percent success rate. Most of the colony has already been subdued thanks to this message so far and the rumors on the streets seem to be dying down. With time all of this should be under our complete control again, and doubts should be eliminated."

"Good," said Equal dismissing the officer. _At least something goes right today_. But for how long could he keep things under his control was a question that plagued his mind with worry and stress.

* * *

The supply truck diverged from the highway and onto a road leading down to Equal's tower. They came to a stop at a checkpoint where various scanners activated. The drivers showed their ID badges to the security staff and they ran them through some card readers. The IDs verified positively but the scans of the truck turned up nothing. The employees began to grow suspicious as one of them knocked on the door of the truck and pointed to the back. "What are you carrying in there?"

"Important supplies for the New Order, top level secret."

The security staff looked at one another and took a moment to study the driver's face. From what they could determine, he was telling the truth. "Fine, you can go on in. You know where the drop off zone is right?"

"Yes sir," the driver replied with a grateful nod. _That was a close one_. The driver gently pushed down on the gas pedal and proceeded inside. Driving to one of the open garages, he backed the truck inside of it. There were already several tower staff members waiting for them to aid in the supply move. The two exited from the truck and greeted the staff.

"Hey, we won't need your guy's help. We can handle it on our own, can't we?" asked the driver looking to his partner, the rebel leader. The leader nodded his head silently but the tower staff would not listen. "Sorry fellas but orders are orders."

"Yes, they are," said the leader pulling out a small pistol with a silencer on it. His ally did the same and both of them shot down everyone present to receive the shipment. His partner looked at the bodies and shook his head. "We should have just shot them to begin with."

"Come now," the leader called for his friend as he opened up the back of the truck. "We have to get the others out."

"On it boss."

The soldiers inside the boxes could hear the screws coming loose. The noise of the drill pierced their ears loudly and was sure to attract curious by passers. Working quickly, the two managed to open all the boxes and let out their allies. As planned they split of into their two respective teams and prepared their weapons. They all looked at one another and nodded. It was time for the mission to begin.


	20. Mission Start

**Chapter 19: Mission Start**

In the drop off zone, the Blood Gulch Crew now dubbed the 'BGC' for the purposes of the operation waited patiently. The rebel group had gone ahead of them to first take care of the security and ensure an easier time getting to Equal. The second group however did not need much time as their disguise allowed them to blend in well and raise little to no questions. In a matter of minutes the security system was down and so were the secondary alarms.

"Come in BGC."

"We read you loud and clear," Sarge replied itching to get the action started. The leader looked at his fellow fighters for confirmation and said. "We are finished here. The security systems should be down. You now have the green light to go after Equal. Remember to take it slow. It would be troublesome if you walked into an ambush. We are here should you need the backup."

"We will keep that in mind," said Tucker leading the group. Heading inside the tower they kept their weapons hidden and armor covered in cloaks. While they raised several eyebrows along the way, they also did their best to keep anyone from taking any unwanted actions.

"Watch out, totally not strange looking dudes coming through. No need to take any unnecessary actions," said Tucker.

"Yeah, it's not like we are crazy red and blue people," said Caboose in his aloof tone. Tucker quickly kicked him in the shin. "Shut up Caboose, they will know we are someone suspicious then."

"Yes, because it's the red and blue that makes this whole thing seem suspicious," Doc replied sarcastically as they made it through just another hall. Lopez snickered to himself getting some curious looks from the others. "[Maybe they will eject you into space without your jets and watch the helpless morons flail until your air runs out.]"

"Lopez, this is no time to be talking about how good of a leader I am!" Sarge scolded the robot and said. "That can be all saved for when we get out of this. But it was nice of you to say that."

"[I hate you all.]"

"I love you to buddy," said Sarge sniffing a little. _Aw shucks, I promised myself I wouldn't cry when I told him that_. They suddenly came to a stop to see one of the employees nonchalantly walking into middle of the hallway. The employee exaggerated his pose and pointed a finger at the group. "They be totally suspicious!"

"No we are not suspicious. Wait, are we suspicious?" asked Caboose.

"Imma gonna press the alarm!" shouted the employee in his rather very Chinese English accent. Tucker reached out for the employee stopping him. "Don't you do it man!"

"Imma do it!"

"No…"

Click!

Nothing happened. The employee looked all around and began to quiver in his spot. Everyone in the hallway heard a liquid drip down to the floor and saw the employee stand in a puddle of his own urine. _Mommy, I peed myself_. O'Malley found a good laugh to be had in this. "Oh this is just precious. The little man peed himself."

"Imma run away now!"

"Yeah, no," said Tucker bashing him in the back of the head. "Anyone else wants to be weird and ruin our totally NOT suspicious walk?"

There was no one who dared to oppose them now. _Good_ , thought Tucker rushing towards the elevators. They searched for the highest floor and closed the doors. _Come on, faster, faster, faster_. They all pondered while in Equal's office he saw a blip on his screen of the tower's architecture. He pressed the security button and nothing happened. _It seems they are not acting without a plan this time_. He reached for a secret control panel hidden by a sliding door and found the elevator controls. _But shutting the security will not be enough. It seems you have failed to take different variables into account such as my special set of controls operated from other power sources_.

* * *

Equal saw the live camera feed from inside the elevator and reached over to another button. _I hope your adventure was fun while it lasted_. He reached for his radio and called up any remaining security forces and got them coordinated on specific floors above the elevator. "Your orders are simple, kill the invaders."

He forced the elevators to stop in the whole tower and saw some panic amongst the BGC. _Good luck getting out of this one_. Equal saw the once calm atmosphere beginning to unravel with panic hidden inside. Tucker kicked the elevator doors shouting. "Great, what do we do now?!"

"Don't get your panties in a twist blue," Sarge replied calmly studying the various panels in the elevator. "Maybe one of these is an escape hatch, help me look."

After a bit of searching, the heated arguments against seemed to arise. Tucker began smashing against the elevator doors growing desperate by the second. "Great, so we are going to be stuck in this stupid lift forever!"

"It's not that bad," said Doc suggesting that they all sit down, take a few minutes to relax and start a brainstorming session. "I mean we have been in worse situations after all."

"Yeah, but in those situations I wasn't stuck in a lift full of dudes. The only thing that can fix this is getting an elevator full of girls in here."

"[Or you know, getting out.]"

Caboose seemed surprisingly quiet. Everyone looked his way asking if he was alright. The blue soldier kept his head down with his shoulders shaking with growing inner rage. "My name is Caboose…"

They all tilted their head at him as he turned around with an ominous glare towards the door. "And I hate babies!"

He ran for the door slamming into it hard. The metal bent and the doors came loose being thrown out into the hallway amidst the many enemy soldiers. Caboose rammed into many of the enemy soldiers and caused them to fly across the hallway. "I will eat you all for breakfast!"

"Um…what's happening here?" asked Sarge only to receive a shrug from Doc. "Like I would know."

Tucker stuck his head out afraid at the enraged Caboose. "You okay buddy?"

"I will eat you all, and then I will go eat a giant dinosaur egg!"

"Yeah, that sounds like Caboose," Tucker verified as Delta appeared in the center of the group. "I apologize for the surprise."

"D, let me guess, tapping into his rage again?" Tucker motioned towards Caboose rampaging towards the scared soldiers. His rage caused many of them to drop their guns and run away. "That is correct."

"I thought you didn't approve of such manipulation brother," said Sigma suddenly bursting out into flames behind Delta. The two fragments turned around to face one another. Delta looked at Caboose's borderline uncontrollable rampage and said. "That was the old me. Caboose is also doing this for good reasons. I have no problems with that."

"Good to us perhaps," argued Sigma observing the brute. Caboose finished bashing the last of the enemy skulls against the wall. Equal stood by the control panel shaken in fear. _That strength is ridiculous_. He went over to the communications and called the other soldiers on a secure line. "The enemy is headed your way. Remember to stop them at all costs. For if you fail, I won't be as kind as they would be in letting you live."

Justice entered his office and was ready to be deployed at any given time. "Let me go, and I will take care of them."

"No," Equal stopped her from leaving the office and said that he needed her by his side. In the face of his argument that should the enemy make it here, he will need a reliable source of backup. She reluctantly chose to stay. The BGC however would not sit idly by and thus begun to climb the various floors via the emergency stairs.

Theta brought up the building schematics transmitted earlier by the second team. "Check it out guys. We are near the top floor already."

* * *

They kicked open the door to the top floor and were met with several guns trained onto them. Tucker felt his confidence drop just as quickly as it had risen. "Well fuck!"

Lopez pulled out his laser gun and shot off several guards in the head. "[Use your laser guns you idiots.]"

"Good advice Lopez, I think I will go have me a burrito after this is over," Sarge replied pulling out his laser shotgun and opening fire. They began to receive enemy fire and quickly hid back into the stairwell room. Tucker looked at his comrades for help. "So how should we get out of here now?"

"This is for all the ignored kittens out there!" Caboose shouted as he jumped head first into the enemy fire. They all gave him a silent salute thinking, _goodbye Caboose for we finally understood your stupidity knew no bounds. And that you had a freaky love triangle going on with a tank who is now a giant killer robot and a Spanish Robot. We knew you well for what you were, a creepy obsessed kid who probably had a crush on Church thanks to your repressed memories of your parents having sex in the middle of the night. Yes, we all know about that somehow. Goodbye the blue idiot_.

"Hey guys, I could use a little help out here!"

 _Or not?_ They all looked out into the hallway and found the enemy to be on the run to the other end of the hall, but Caboose was trapped behind some cover. It was impossible to cross the thin line of fire in this narrow hallway. Sarge quickly looked to the others and shouted. "Move up men! We are going to give Caboose the covering fire he needs and hopefully one blue at least goes down in this suicide run!"

"So Caboose then?" asked Tucker running up to the cover. Sarge looked up at the ceiling in thought and said. "Yeah sure, but I was thinking more along the lines of someone wearing aq-"

"Do not even finish that sentence."

The BGC became even more coordinated than before with Sarge's commands and Caboose's overwhelming strength. With time they made great success, and with time they managed to make it halfway across the hallway without so much as a scratch. "Okay boys, we just gotta keep on pushing forward!"

* * *

Washington waved for Muffins and his group to run over to their position. "Come on, quickly!"

The turbines on the ship roared loudly and the heat from the jets glazed the ground in black. Grif looked at the pilot panel and determined that it was quite similar to a pelican. _Shouldn't be a problem, hopefully_. As soon as everyone was on board, he looked back one last time to do a head count and told them to strap in. Pushing the speed lever upwards, the ship slowly began to hover and pick up speed.

"Are you sure you know what you are doing?" asked Private Boyscout. Grif gave a thumb up. "I know what I'm doing about as much as I know how to properly follow orders."

"So basically you don't know squat then," said Simmons but was then struck with a question himself. "How is it that you have managed to fly the ships before all this time then?"

"I wouldn't consider that flying really, more like blind luck keeping us alive," Donut interjected holding tightly onto his gun. The gun was his comfort amidst the novice pilot taking charge of a flight that would decide the future of the people of the planet and the space colony. Yes, they are boned. Private Buttmunch jittered in his spot looking from left to right and back again. "So if that's the case, shouldn't we have an experienced pilot in the cockpit?"

"Probably," said Grif taking the bird into the air. "But I called dibs. Are you familiar with the international dibs protocol?"

"Oh ja, that protocol that no one else seems to know about. Too bad Buttmunch, you are just going to have to deal with it."

"Deal with leaving a rookie in charge of our lives sir?"

"Ja, it be fun no?"

"Respectfully I disagree sir," said Buttmunch only to receive a boot to the face. Muffins crossed his arms and puffed up his chest at him. "No one cares what you think Buttmunch."

 _So, shield, shield, shield where are you?_ Grif wondered as he hovered his finger over several buttons. _Ah here it is!_ He pressed it in the nick of time just before entering the field of the hostile man made clouds. The villagers from down below looked up with prayers of their safety and success in their minds. As the ship entered into the clouds, the whole crew felt the turbulence. At the front, Grif was shaken by the thunder all around him. _We are supposed to get through this?!_

Washington could tell Grif was scared from the little he could see into the cockpit. "Grif, calm down, and remember to keep your eye on the goal!"

Most of the thunder narrowly missed the ship, but some came into contact much to their worry and fear. The shield however did its job of keeping the ship safe by absorbing the energy from the attacks. They finally broke through after a nerve wrecking ten minutes inside the death trap. What they saw next amazed them all. Behind all the dark and gloomy clouds was a beautiful sight to behold. Sun pierced through the sky shining its beautiful warm rays down onto the planet. Even the clouds that looked to be hostile from the surface looked quite majestic from up above under the sun's shine.

"Now isn't that something?" Donut said with his visor stuck against a window. They all agreed, it in fact was a very beautiful sight. This only encouraged them more to succeed for the people of this planet, for Walters, Ben, Elsie and Edwards. These people deserved their freedom, and they also deserved to see such magnificent sunshine, feel it coat their skins with its warmth amidst a gentle breeze.

"Hang on, we are getting out of the planet now," said Grif as he began the exit sequence from the stratosphere. Pretty quickly they were in space. Grif inputted an automated path to the space station, but the closer they came to it the more blinking lights they saw. _What is that?_ They all wondered. Grif pulled up a zoomed in image of the area and nearly all of them gasped audibly. Sister was on all four limbs staring closely at the image. "That is a lot of ships."

* * *

Everyone could feel a tremor in their bodies. _No way we could stand a chance against them_ , wondered Simmons as he looked at Washington. The grey soldier was busy studying the strategic positioning of the New Order battle cruisers all around the space station. He looked to the others and nodded his head in reassurance. "Don't worry guys. This is why we brought some insurance with us."

Everyone in the ship heard static echo from the radio with a transmission clearing up for the crew to answer. Grif looked back to the others unsure of what to reply with. "Um, they are asking for our confirmation codes or some shit like that."

Washington stood up and went over to the seat closest to the cockpit. He undid the restraints and forced their prisoner onto his feet. He slowly guided the enemy to the radio and said. "Remember to only say what is asked of you and no more. Try anything funny and they won't find your body."

"Hardcore," said Donut in a whisper. Just for added pressure, Wash pressed the tip of his blade against the soldier's neck and gave him permission to speak. "This is the New Order military class ship, designation B-9956A returning from the communication tower defense mission."

"How'd that go?" asked the security officer by the dock as he cleared a request for them to land. Wash applied more pressure to the knife. It was a sign to wrap this up quickly. "I- It went fine, but we did lose a lot of guys."

"I hear you on that. We ended up losing several on the frontlines as well. Seems as that those bastards' message managed to alert the whole of UNSC and they sent two more fleets to attack ours. No doubt they will be coming here as well."

 _I'm counting on it_ , thought Wash as he whispered to the soldier. "Wrap this up."

"What dock should we proceed to?" asked the prisoner doing his best to keep it together under the knife's pressure. The security officer let out a deep breath and said. "Hmm let's see here, proceed to dock C-19."

"Got it, thanks," said the prisoner before being dragged away to his seat again. Washington retrieved the knife and patted the soldier on the shoulder. "See, that wasn't so hard, was it? We will let you go once we are on board the station."

Grif looked at the control fumbled at what to press. "So what do we do now guys?"

"We land," said Buttmunch worriedly. "You do know how to land this bird right?"

"Sure, that just means stop flying right?"

"We are going to die!" shouted Boyscout receiving a back handed smack to his head from Muffins. "Calm down cry baby, I am sure if we believe, then we will be just fine."

"So yeah about that landing…," Grif said with a crooked grin. Everyone looked at the open bay doors and the clamps ready to receive the ship. Yet the ship was not slowing, when asked for answers Grif just shook his shoulders at them. _This is going to be the worst landing ever of all time!_ Washington quickly ducked under his seat as did the others.

With a loud crash the ship burst through the doors and into the dock! The ship skidded across the floor until it came to a halt thanks to the friction. Friction, it was their savior, and their hero. Inside the ship was a mess, bodies everywhere on top of one another and at the very bottom was Muffins. _I think my pee wee got crushed owie…_ He looked up above himself at the others and shouted. "Okay, so which one of you didn't believe hard enough?!"

"Someone get the prisoner please aghhhhh…," Wash moaned from underneath Carolina's and Simmons' body. _Since when were these two so heavy?_ He pushed them off of himself and found the prisoner no more worse for wear.

Outside of the ship, several security officers and cleanup crew gathered to study the damage. Inside the ship, the crew could hear their various orders. The security was going to try and force open the door to get inside. Washington stood up with the prisoner in hand and gave the same orders to the others. "Oh shit, get up and be ready with your guns!"

* * *

Just as the security crew was about to go ahead and begin the hacking procedure to the door, they heard it opening much to their delight. They all drew their guns and the one in the front shouted. "Ship crew, if you are still alive then please confirm and slowly walk out here."

The prisoner walked outside. They were all relieved. Washington walked up behind the prisoner with his gun pointed at the prisoner's head. _Ah shit_ , they all thought raising their guns at him. Wash pressed the barrel against the enemy's head and said. "Relax guys, one mistake and my finger might just slip."

The rest of the crew comes out with their guns pointed at the security. Wash looked around at the nervous atmosphere shrouding over everyone and said. "Look, we don't' want to kill you and you don't want this guy to die so how about you let us go and we give him back to you?"

"You are all wanted criminals!" shouted one of the officers.

"So?" dared Grif as he motioned to the prisoner. "It's not like the New Order is any less guilty."

"Bullshit! The New Order could never be responsible for such horrors!" another shouted back at them. Wash stopped Grif from arguing any further. "Don't, it's a waste of time trying to get through to them."

Wash shook the prisoner and asked of the security. "So, deal or no deal?"

"Fuck you grey man!"

"Well look at the racist here," Grif replied with a disgusted tone. Wash let out a heavy and tired sigh. _Again, why did I expect any different?_ He motioned to his allies and said. "Open fire."

Bullets began to fly. The ship crew took cover inside and knocked out their prisoner. _That should at least keep him safe until all this is over…hopefully_. Carolina stuck her head out and took out nearly half the platoon. One of the dock workers reached for the emergency button and activated the red lights and alarms throughout the facility. Following standard protocol, every dock worker not related to security left. Even security was sparse now thanks to the Blood Gulch Crew's handiwork.

* * *

"Come in sir!"

Equal stared at the sudden communication and reached for the control panel. "This is Equal speaking."

"Oh thank god!" the security officer gasped for air as he looked around in a panic. "W- We are under attack by the wanted criminals. Th- They just crash landed into our dock, C-19 and began a conflict!"

Equal's mouth dropped open. He could not believe it. Even the BGC from the planet comes back to the very nest they once harmed for their deserved deaths. He looked up to Justice and told her to call for a few New Order soldiers. "Make sure they don't escape the facility, I am going to send backup your way. It is time we cut the head off of our enemies."

The soldiers entered Equal's office informing him of the situation down a few levels. He waved the topic away and said. "I didn't call you here for that. I have a special task for you all. I need you to go down to dock C-19 and provide support to the security officers."

"But what about those down below sir?"

"Just do as you are told!" Equal reaffirmed in a strict tone. The others remained quiet with the leader slowly taking in a deep breath. "Are there any questions?"

They were all silent. He nodded his head at them and waved them away. Justice began to head out with them but she was quickly stopped by his quick reactions. She jerked his grip away from her forearm and continued to follow the group. He followed after her all the way to the elevator trying to convince her otherwise. "Wait, Justice. Don't do this, I need you here. Please!"

Just before she entered, she stopped to turn around and gave a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. I will come back safe and sound. Right now taking care of the enemy matters the most. We can't allow them to join forces with the group down below."

He wasn't convinced, not in the slightest. She leaned in close for a hug. He looked at her with surprised eyes and asked. "What are you doing all of a sudden?"

"Just trying to calm you down."

"If you do this, it feels more like a goodbye then."

She had to agree that he was right. But it put her heart at ease to know that he cared so much about her even if they had their differences in thoughts, actions and beliefs. She patted him on his shoulders and smiled widely. "Don't worry Equal, I have to come back. We have a lot to talk about, and a lot to work out together after all. I will return, I promise."

* * *

 _Don't make promises you can't guarantee_ , he thought as he backed away from the closing elevator doors. With a deep lonely sigh, he walked back into his office. Being alone in here again left him feeling empty. _Just like in that nightmare_. He walked over to the communications panel linked to the whole station and slid open emergency controls. _Right now I have to stop thinking about my own feelings and think about the station's well being_.

Equal flipped open a number pad and inputted a series of security codes to unlock a special button. _May fate see it fit that you all survive_. He looked out the window one last time before pressing the button that dimmed the lights in the building and activated dark red emergency lights. The shutters on his window began to descend and the cars outside quickly diverged from the highway to the nearest emergency shelters.

"This is a message to all security and military personnel," said Equal as he hoped for Justice's safe and fruitful return. "Should you find anyone engaging in harmful or suspicious activities, shoot them on sight. The wanted criminals have taken actions against us again, so we must take every step to defend our citizens and our liberty. Remember that we take no prisoners, and that we offer no second chances. Aim for the homestretch people, and bring down the hammer of justice for all those who died in Sector-D because of them. That is all."


	21. Justice Will be Served

**Chapter 20: Justice Will be Served**

Justice walked inside the dock hangers and looked from left to right. Everywhere she looked was deserted. The only sounds present were those of their footsteps and the occasional deep breathing. They were all anxious to see what they would face. Would their enemies fight like mammoths trampling down anything in their path, or be harmless flocks of feathers easily blown away by a simple whisk of the wind.

The whole group stopped at the sound of gun fire. Justice looked all around and signaled to her squad with hand signs. They all dispersed in different directions to investigate the facility and report back. She headed for the crash site that was reported thanks to one of the consoles when she entered inside the dock hangers. The gunfire seemed to get louder with every step she took. Stuck to a corner, she peeked her head out to study her surroundings and to her surprise she found the targets. _That was faster than I anticipated_. "Come in squad, I have found our targets. Rendezvous on my position quickly and we will coordinate a strike on them."

The BGC shot the security staff left and right. Everyone contributed equally to the increasing non-lethal casualties. They looked all around for an opening to escape from, but everytime hope seemed to be prevalent, it was quickly shot down by more enemy reinforcements. Grif was increasingly becoming frustrated. "Dammit, is there no end to these assholes?!"

More came running into the hanger. Simmons let out a heavy sigh as he stared at Grif in irritation. "You just had to open your mouth didn't you?"

"Less talking and more shooting!" shouted Wash as he reloaded his rifle. Even for Carolina, fighting this long without any feeling of progress was getting irritable. Epsilon had to remind her from time to time to be calm. Her time for revenge will come. Her mind felt overwhelmed by this increasing distance between her target and those who stood between them.

Carolina became so frustrated that she had begun analyzing her alternate options. Leave the crew here and go off on her own for the hunt. _Easy there Carolina_ , Epsilon's voice echoed in the back of her head as she looked at a potential ventilation cover. _Come on, we don't want to take any actions to abandon the guys here_.

 _You don't understand anything Epsilon_ , she shot back in her inner conversation with him. But he did understand her emotions. It was something he had learned to do quite well when he was first materializing himself based on Church's recordings. He suddenly materialized beside her and said. "You may not like hearing this but there are other things at stake here aside from just your revenge."

Wash took notice of the argument and felt unsettled by the thought of Carolina delving back into that revenge mindset she had with the Director. He called for the others to lay on the heavy fire and went to her side to verify her condition. Simmons seemed to be doing very well in combat. Unlike Carolina, he wasn't getting worked up nor was he impatient. He understood that there will be troubles along the way and that it is still very important to stay together with the group. No matter how strong their desire for vengeance maybe, making sure that his family is safe always came first in his mind.

"Hey guys," Donut called out to the crew pointing out to the last of the enemy soldiers dropping to the ground. "Check it out, an exit!"

"Then let's peddle on out of here my homimes!" said Muffins leading the escape. They all began to run out of the ship but such a victory was cut short by new combatants. Justice and her squad approached the wanted criminals and gave them one warning. "Put down your weapons and surrender!"

Grif looked at Wash and snickered. "Yeah right, as if that would happen."

He drew his weapon aimed for her and everyone opened fire! Thanks to the help of Gamma and the other fragments, they landed clean shots on the soldiers. Everyone but Justice was down on the ground. She studied the futility of their efforts in trying to gun her down. Simmons gritted his teeth and informed the others. "Guys, she has the same armor as that guy we fought in the factory back on the planet. Normal bullets won't do any good against her. She can only be defeated by extreme heat temperatures I think."

Carolina and Washington looked at one another and threw away their guns. The grey soldier drew a compact weapon given to him by Ben before and handed it to Carolina. "Use it when the opportunity is right. Just press the grey button on the handle and the device will extend and charge itself."

Carolina studied the weapon and stored it behind her. Epsilon appeared behind her to give her a quick warning. "Remember Carolina, I won't be able to run multiple armor enhancements at one time. We will have to cycle through the ones you will need so use them wisely."

Washington looked back to the group and motioned for them to run away. "We will hold her here, you guys go after Equal."

Carolina did not like this one bit. She wanted to go after the bastard Equal, but she knew that Wash would need her here to help hold Justice back. She balled her hands into fists and aimed them in front of her eyes. _I will have to finish my fight with you quickly then_. She bent down spreading her legs and took a defensive pose.

Justice was not about to just let them do as they wanted though. She quickly blocked their escape route just as the crew began to run. "All of you will stay here and watch one another fall. Now, who should go first?"

"How about us two?!" shouted Wash as he landed with a heavy punch. Carolina followed behind him and used his back as a jumping stone to gain more height. She landed a clean blow onto Justice's helmet and she heard the enemy grumble in irritation. She looked to the others and quickly shouted for them to go while they still had the chance. Just as Justice was about to again stop them, she was held back by Carolina's strong grip around her waist. Being sensible, Justice decided that the BGC will have to wait as the freelancers took higher priority.

* * *

Hijacking two cars and a motorcycle, the BGC followed the directions from Gamma based on Locus' data of the station's architecture. Grif smiled in satisfaction saying. "You know what, I am so glad that I had you keep a copy of Locus' data Microsoft Sam."

"How do we even know he will be there?" asked Simmons keeping a watchful eye out for any enemies on the turret. Donut matched the speed of Grif's car on his motorcycle and said. "We will only know once we get there. Worse come to worse, we course correct later."

"Let's go get this party started, whoo!" shouted Sis as they drove off towards Equal's tower in Sector-C.

Inside the tower, the BGC crew slowly worked their way through the narrow hallway. Caboose was still on his wrecking spree, and that aided them a great deal in discouraging the enemy. Theta guided the team up another flight of stairs and finally to the top floor. They were only a few feet away from Equal's office now.

Inside the office, Equal studied the mob ready to burst down his doors. _It won't be that easy_. He pressed a set of buttons to activate several turrets outside the room. The BGC scattered and hid behind several pillars before the turrets could get a lock on them. _And now for your laser weaponry_. Equal reached over to another set of controls and activated a special blast that disabled laser weapons. He could already hear agitated noises from outside and with a grin he stood satisfied at his work. _The only thing to deprive all of you with is now your lives. But that shall come with time soon enough I suppose_.

Tucker threw down his laser gun and drew his assault rifle. The others did the same regardless of how frustrated this sudden change made them. The laser weapons were an edge that they had over the New Order weapons. Now they have lost that advantage and are reduced to fighting on what questionably could be considered equal grounds. Lopez stuck his head out to do quick analyses and almost got his head shot off. "[Guys, here are my results. Those turrets are total dicks.]"

Grif drove into the building's garage and came to a stop. Simmons studied the area with the spin of his turret and saw no hostiles. "Guess they must have gone into the shelters with the others."

"Maybe," Grif remarked as he exited the vehicle and the others followed behind him. He peeked his head through a set of doors, the coast seemed clear and he looked back to the group. "So, who should go in first?"

Everyone kept their stares aimed at him. _Of course it would be me_. He shook his head and pointed to Private Buttmunch and Boyscout. "Shouldn't the experts be leading this operation?"

Muffins stood between the three of them with a defensive gaze towards Grif. "You leave my boys out of this. I need them for my galaxy domination plans."

"Also, isn't it harder to kill the stupid people? It would explain after how all this time we still create shit to kill ourselves with," said Simmons earning a sharp glare from Grif. "Hey Simmons, did you also know that nerds die alone and virgin?"

Simmons held up the middle finger for Grif who held up two for him. "Two can play at that game Simmons."

"Ugh, I will just lead the way myself," Donut insisted pushing past the rest and into the hallway. Grif turned around with a sigh of relief. _Maybe he will infect the enemy with his stupidity and make them flee_. The rest followed suite through the dimly lit hallways. They kept their guns pointed out always scanning the area. So far there were no enemies, and so far things went well. Donut stopped to press the elevator button. There was no response from the various lights on the panel.

"Maybe it's broken," suggested Sister. Private Boyscout pointed to a stairwell and said. "We can take that to the upper floors."

"Hold on," Muffins called out stopping the group in their tracks. "Do we even know where this living zombie man known as Equal is?"

"Microsoft Sam?" Grif questioned looking to his right. Gamma suddenly appeared sliding over to Muffins' left. "We do not know for sure. But based on the data from Locus for Sector-D specifically, his office was on the top floor. We can deduce from that information that his office may very well be on the top floor again."

"No harm in trying," Simmons interjected heading up the stairs. The others followed to the very top. Expectedly, they had to start carrying Grif halfway through the climb. Simmons was impressed that the fat orange soldier could last that long without complaining to stop. Sister and Donut put Grif down as they saw Muffins and his crew positioning on the sides of the door. Muffins kicked open the door and the two Privates swung around ready to open fire. Instead they were met with unexpected turret fire.

* * *

Tucker looked at the open door with uncertainty and shouted. "What the fuck was that?!"

"Hey, that sounded like Tucker," Simmons commented in a quiet yet audible voice. Tucker's ears perked up at the voice and took a closer look behind the door. "Simmons?"

"Tucker!"

"Simmons, guys!" he rushed in with his arms wide open in relief and excitement. Sarge moved tactically behind the pillars avoiding the gun fire and entered the stairwell with a wide smile under his helmet. "Simmons, it's so good to see that you made it son. Donut, how have you been?"

"Meh you know, the usual boss. Trying not to get blown up when I am minding my own business."

Grif noticed he was being ignored. He raised his hand catching their attention. "What about me Sarge?"

The red leader let out an exhausted sigh. "I see Grif still survived. Why won't the lord ever listen to my prayers?!"

"Nice to see I was missed," Grif replied in a sarcastic tone. He stood up and looked outside. Caboose was breathing heavily and shouting various threats at the turrets. "I will commit genocide on your kind turret!"

"What is up with his voice? It's all deep and shit," Grif asked pointing out to the blue soldier. Tucker shook his head and walked closer to the door frame. "It's a long story. I will have to tell it to you guys some other time."

"Yeah, he sounds like when he was taken over by Church that one time before," added Simmons only to quickly hear O'Malley butt in. "But I did it first!"

"Oh hey Doc, great to see you are still alive!" shouted Donut with excitement. The whole crew was coming together. The purple medic walked inside greeting everyone one by one. "Hey Donut, you speak Spanish right? Could you get Lopez to calm down? He has been shouting like crazy ever since he heard your guys' voices."

"That's just his fiery Latin temper. I will calm him down, leave it to me!" the pink soldier exclaimed walking out to where Lopez was ranting his head off. "Hey Lopez, I heard you weren't do so well. What's up buddy?"

"[AND THEN THERE IS THIS JACKASS COMING ALL OVER HERE LIKE HE GIVES A FUCK. My nightmare has come full circle, someone please just kill me. No, seriously do it. I cannot self-terminate.]"

"Gentlemen, if I may," Sigma appeared besides Tucker and looked all around. "We have an obstacle that requires overcoming."

"Let me try to hack into their weapons systems and disable the turrets," Gamma offered as he turned into a small blue blip and flew into the turrets. Everyone looked at one another nervously at what the hack would behold. Tucker took this time to ask about Carolina and Washington to which Muffins briefly replied. "Those two are holding back the mean women."

"Mean woman?" Doc inquired looking around for answers. Simmons quickly replied to save them from any more confusion. "He means a high ranking officer from the New Order. According to Locus' data, she is one of the founders of this whole thing. Justice I think was her name."

* * *

"The turrets are down," said Gamma retreating back to the storage in Grif's suit. Sigma nodded his head and pointed at the machines. "I recommend we shoot them down to ensure complete nullification."

"Don't have to tell me twice," Sarge noted walking out of the room with his shotgun in hand. A few shots later, the turrets were down on the ground smoking from their assembly joints that held them up to the ceiling. Delta loosened his grip on Caboose who began to calm down and expectedly suffered a major gap in memory. "How did we get up here? Did you guys bring me up here to show me a surprise?"

"We will let you know when we do that Caboose, if ever," Tucker said preparing his sword. Caboose tilted his head in confusion. "But that wouldn't be a surprise anymore…"

"My god he finally says something of sense," Muffins mumbled only to get questionable stares all around. "What?"

Grif prepared his sword getting a curious look from Tucker and Sarge. "What?"

"Since when did you get such a _huge sword_ dude?" Tucker leaned in closer and compared it to his. "That this is _huge_!"

"Got it off of a dead guy."

"Gross," Sarge commented standing back for the two to cut the door down. Inside the office, there he stood. _Did Justice fail? If they are here…then she did fail. But more than trying to correct your failure I can only hope for your survival Justice_. His figure was outlined by the sparse light entering the office through the shutters. The lights shined brightly paving details on his armor for the crew to observe. His emotionless eyes glazed over them all with intent of destruction and his body moved with hate for their very existence.

"Your very existence has caused me no ends to my troubles. Ever since you all showed up, it's been nothing but a shit show here."

He walked over to a panel and activated the lights in the room. His face wore an expression of indifference, and yet his words held such malice aimed against the BGC. Before the crew could get a good look of his face, he folded out his helmet and completed the look of his armor. "Now I think it's time to do what could not have been done by others."

Simmons felt his heart race, his anger boiled and the hate he felt he was slowly beginning to calm and control again began to swirl with conviction. His thirst for vengeance began to resurface and no amount of positive words could fulfill this thirst. Only revenge could and he was ready to take it, even if it meant bloodying his own hands neck deep into it. Before them all stood the long awaited showdown they had all been fighting towards all this time. In the center of the office stood Equal, welcoming them all to the final battle.

* * *

 **A/N: This is it, the final conflict begins soon :).**

 **Hope you are all enjoying the show so far.**

 **Leave your thoughts/comments/review please, much appreciated :D.**

 **~ Monty Mason**


	22. Last Chance

**Chapter 21: Last Chance**

The BGC walked into Equal's office, their guns were raised and they were on high alert. They all scanned their surroundings for any visible traps. Equal spreads open his arms and welcomed them into his abode. "Welcome gentlemen, shall we get started?"

Sarge raised his shotgun at the man and walked closer. "Yeah, that sounds good. I have a little something I have been itching to give to you all this time."

BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!

With an itchy trigger finger, he opened fire multiple times upon the armored enemy. Every shot fired meant a step taken closer. Equal patiently waited for the older man to finish. Emptying the shotgun into Equal, Sarge stood still dumbfounded at the nothingness his efforts had been reduced to. Equal stared at the shell casing and looked up to find the frozen bodies before him. "Normal bullets as your friends have discovered on the planet do our special armor no harm. So if you have anything else you would like to try, I would much rather prefer ending this child's play right now and get to the real bulk of this fight already."

Every fighter threw down their weapons and raised their fists. Many of them cracked their knuckles and neck ready to go toe to toe. Equal was severely outnumbered by eleven to one, but his armor easily made up for at least four people under his expertise direction. Equal spun his robotic arms and feet to better loosen them. _Outnumbered, so much for doing this like men, but the more that come at me together, the more I can eliminate from the picture_.

Tucker jogged back and forth between his spot and gave one last warning. "You can still stop this Equal. You can still stop from waging war any further and free those people on the planet."

Equal stood both startled and amused. "I'm sorry. Did something about my actions indicate I want to stop this? This is what I have been working towards all this time! I don't for us to stop, I want for us to go all the way, to see it through to the end!"

"You can still atone for your crimes," Tucker noted and while Sarge wanted to pummel Equal's face with all his might, he had to agree with Tucker. "You know, while you are rough around the edges, if we get to know one another you might not be such a bad fella."

Equal dropped his defensive pose and stared at those surrounding him with widened eyes. He began to laugh condescendingly. "How sweet of you all to say, but I have come too far to give up on your whimsical words now. So thank you for the offer, but I would much rather like to decapitate your heads with my hands now."

"You heard him boys, get those fists swinging," Sarge went in first swinging hard but was easily countered by Equal. He kneed the red leader in the abdomen. Following Sarge were Buttmunch and Boyscout from opposite directions. Both of them swung to hit the sides of Equal's face. But he ducked in time causing them to punch one another. Simmons lunged for Equal who flew up and out of the way. Instead, Simmons ended up tackling Donut who came in running fast. The two tumbled to the ground.

 _Too easy_ , thought the New Order leader with a smirk on his face. Grif stopped Doc and Muffins from attacking at the same time and voiced reason. "Guys, he will only let you beat one another up if you continue to attack at the same time!"

Changing tactics, they began to attack him one at a time. But even that tactic held no fruit for their success. Donut came in screaming like a woman, swinging and hoping for the best. Equal dodged every single swing and led the pink soldier against a wall. Taking him by the back of his helmet, he bashed the front against the wall. _That's one_. Equal ducked below a wide swing from Doc and held him by his neck. With a swift blow he landed a hard punch to the vertebrae causing Doc to fall down in extreme pain. _That's two_.

Equal ran towards the two Privates in the room and tackled them by the neck. He bashed their heads against the wall and stood up to meet the fury of Muffins. "No one does that to the Fuhrer Muffins' men and gets away with it!"

Muffins looked at an oncoming fist as one of his punches was stopped mid-air. Equal smashed Muffins' nose, blood sprayed all over his fist and with a look of disgust he pushed the Captain back. Shaking his hand he did his best to do away with the blood. _That's three more down_. He turned to look around at the remaining uncertain fighters. _Weak the whole lot of them_.

Sarge held Equal by his shoulder from the behind and spun him around. Bam! He landed a hard right hook which caused Equal to remain still for a moment or two. He recomposed himself and stretched his neck. "Not bad for an old timer."

Equal lifted Sarge into the air and threw him onto the table. The whole room could hear a crack, whether it was the desk or Sarge, it was clear that things were getting very serious. Equal took the desk and slid it to the side with Sarge lying still onto it. "That should give us more room to work with."

Equal studied the remaining six soldiers. _But only five fighters remain_. Sister hid behind Lopez too afraid to make a move, and Grif intended on keeping it that way. Last thing he needed was to babysit Sister even in this situation. Equal eyed Grif and Simmons and pointed towards them. "You two were the ones to kill Truth were you not?"

"If you mean the asshole responsible for Edward's and Elsie's death, then yea," Grif replied stepping forth. But before anyone could realize, Simmons lunged at Equal with every fiber of his being trembling in rage. "You will die for all those who died because of you!"

Equal side stepped Simmons, hit him in the shin which caused him to lose balance and pinned him to the ground. "I don't know how you two were able to do it but it seems that it may have been mere luck."

"More like because we are badass," Grif argued to which Equal could not agree. He motioned all around at their fallen comrades and said. "I find that hard to believe."

Kicking Simmons in the side, he stepped over the maroon soldier's body and approached the others. Simmons slowly picked himself up to the side and felt his legs shake under this immense strength. Even the strength of an enraged Caboose could not match since Equal had both the brains and the brawns at the same time.

"Hey asshole," Tucker called out as he walked closer to Equal. He reached for his alien sword and Grif did the same. "I seem to remember that I have yet to pay you back for all that _hospitality_ from before."

* * *

By the station defense line, many New Order ships were picking up weird readings in space time ruptures. They all looked up from their computer screens to the bright dots of light forming several kilometers away from them. "What is that?"

Amidst the dark void of space, bright lights of hope shined to pave the path for the army to follow through. The ruptures in space and time allowed the safe passage of UNSC ships to enter the domain of the New Order. Everyone in the defense line panicked at the number of ships appearing into view. The UNSC easily outnumbered the New Order.

"Contact Equal!" the ships Captains shouted amongst many other orders. The big guns were brought out on both sides. The New Order however was armed with a greater advantage as they still had many EMP drones left at their disposal. But the UNSC learned from their past experience, this time they decided to only engage in long range battle. While their shields protected them, they took a heavy pounding by the initial blast wave. The defense Captains were beginning to question how long they would last against such a massive army. But that was to be the last of their concern based on what they saw next.

A massive tear opened in space. From within the tear came a humongous ship, bigger than anything man has ever built to fly. A Covenant ship entered the offensive front of this battle with Junior and his comrades taking the helm. Many of the UNSC soldiers cheered for this new and appreciated force of destruction coming to aid them in their fight.

The New Order defense line was already quivering in their boots. Many of the crew were shell shocked by the sight. A juggernaut was heading their way. The hope of survival and once again the opportunity to strike the UNSC seemed to diminish. Under this pressure, they could only despair. The Covenant ship opened fire and took out several of the New Order ships in one shot.

"God help us all," one Captain muttered a prayer to himself before closing his eyes and meeting his demise. Both sides launched smaller fighter ships to engage in jet warfare. The Covenant technology easily overpowered anything the New Order had as their technology was based off of the UNSC's work. They were weak and they knew it. Their final hour was slowly approaching, and the curtains to their vengeful ambitions were coming to a close.

* * *

 **A/N: Things are heating up and the call to close the curtain on this trilogy approaches soon. I hope you have all been enjoying these so far.**

 **Feedback is always appreciated :).**

 **Thank you for your readership. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**

 **~ Monty Mason**


	23. Hate is Every Where

**Chapter 22: Hate is Every Where**

The three combatants eyed one another closely. Justice breathed in slowly and deeply. The freelancers on the other hand breathed erratically. Washington stretched his shoulders saying. "Okay, so you are pretty good."

"Pretty good would be an understatement," Epsilon interjected activating the healing unit for Carolina. Justice looked at the female freelancer who was getting ready to go for another round. She could not comprehend why they tried so hard even though her suit was superior to theirs, in combat ability they were somewhat equally matched and that she held the advantage of knowing their surroundings better. Justice just could not understand what pushed them this far in their struggle. "Why do you still fight?"

Carolina ran straight for Justice. Wash tried to stop her but she was already out of his reach. Swinging a firm left hook, she followed it with a falcon punch. Justice blocked the left hook, and she managed to block the follow up with her elbow. _Simple fighting tactics won't work against me_. She punched Carolina in the chest, took her by her left arm and swung her over her own shoulder. With a loud echo Carolina lay still on the floor. She felt her whole body tremble with pain, but her drive kept on pushing her forward.

Wash leaped in from the back and pushed Justice away towards Carolina. She took a tight hold of Justice by her abdomen area, raised her into the air and pushed her onto the ground. Sitting atop the New Order warrior, she began to punch the helmet violently. "Why won't you feel any pain?!"

"Is it blind rage that drives you?" asked Justice as she took a tight hold of Carolina's fists. She head butted the military soldier knocking her to the ground. "Or is it the simple desire to be the strongest?"

Washington came in swinging from the back, but he was quickly stopped by Justice as she spun around and stopped his punch. Balling her metallic hand, she delivered a heavy blow to Wash's stomach. She could hear him squeal in pain much to her pleasure. She was performing at high efficiency to achieve their desired results after all. Justice began to make small strides towards Carolina, her interests leaned more towards the female freelancer in this fight. She had met driven people determined to defeat her before, but never any as persistent as this one. Usually the others would give up after a few hits only to meet their demise shortly after.

Washington slowly picked himself up and unsheathed his hidden blade. _If I am going to put those knife skills to use, now is as good a time as any_. He quietly straightened himself out and prepared to throw the knife. Justice however caught whisk of such actions amidst the air sounds. As Washington raised the knife, Justice could hear the subtle sounds. She turned around to find the grey soldier ready to throw the knife, and throw it he did.

Clink!

The knife bounced off of her armor without making so much as a scratch. _It just bounced off?_ Wash wondered in shock with his shoulders slumped. _That has got to be the worst knife throw ever of all time_. Justice looked at the puny knife by her side and smirked at the pitiful attempt. "Want to give it another go hot shot?"

She inched closer by the second and he began to panic. _What the hell do I do now?!_ He looked all around or any suitable weapons and found a metal rod. _This has got to do something, right?_ Swinging from his left, he made hard contact with her ribs. But all that the rod did was just budge her a little. "Huh, how about that?"

Justice let out a small laughter as she took the rod in one hand and said. "Yeah, how about that."

She pulled the rod closer to herself and kicked Wash away. Swinging the rod from left to right, she bashed him on his legs. Epsilon looked at the struggle Wash was in and urged Carolina to get up. He kicked her healing unit into high gear and began running a few calculations through a series of subroutines. "Come on Carolina, get up, he needs our help."

She stared at the ground, her whole body felt numb and her mind weary. _I am so tired_. Epsilon appeared close to her left ear saying. "This is the final push, get up Carolina! Do you want Edward's and Elsie's death to mean nothing? You are so close to finishing this!"

Elsie's smile flashed in Carolina's mind. _I can never escape her death now, can I?_ Carolina began to pick herself up slowly. _I brought so much tragedy onto a whole village._ _Those people were just trying to go about their lives and live a peaceful life. But we took that right to life away from them just by being there_. Epsilon appeared in front of her eyes and firmly stated. "Then go get the bastards who killed them. They are responsible, not you."

She pulled out the compact device from behind her back and pressed the only button visible. It loudly extended into a small harpoon alerting Justice. She kicked Wash in the side and caused him to curl up in pain. Carolina ran towards Justice who raised her shield and studied the tip of the harpoon. _The metal at the tip, it seems to be heating up_. "That is a fascinating weapon you have obtained. May I ask from where?"

"What does it matter to a woman who is about to die soon?!" Carolina shouted retreating the weapon and again thrusting forward. Justice studied the top right of her interface and noticed a red blinking light. Her shield levels were depleting fast. She looked all around and found just the thing she needed in that moment. _Fighting you directly is too dangerous as long as you have that thing_. Justice held out her pistol and aimed it to her left.

Wash slowly stood up and noticed the enemy's form ready to shoot. He looked at where she was aiming and suddenly made a break for it. "Carolina, get behind some solid cover!"

Epsilon suddenly appeared asking why. He calculated her bullet's trajectory and with a gasp he muttered. "Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me. Carolina, move now!"

* * *

Bang!

The bullet destroyed a little box containing a red button. It was only to be used in emergencies when something needed to be evacuated to space. And that something was here right now in Justice's eyes. The whole room depressurized. Justice activated her gravity boots as did the others. She eyed her comrade's bodies flying out into space with sad eyes. Taking note of Carolina's and Washington's persistence, she shot off a few clamps holding down a few vehicles. Two ships headed for the freelancers. _Exactly as planned, after all, I am the one with the superior knowledge of our surroundings_. The two were caught off balance with a heavy blow to their heads.

"Oh shit, hold on Carolina!" Epsilon shouted drilling some sense into her. Before she could drift any further towards the exit, she smashed her fist through a ventilation grate. Washington had already regained his balance and was on his feet. "Epsilon, I need a way of shutting off that rupture."

"Give me a second Wash. Scanning room, now."

"We don't have a second!" Carolina argued seeing even more objects fly out into space. Epsilon appeared beside her frustrated at the interruptions and shouted. "Then why don't you try doing this? It's not like I can access one simple subroutine and presto done! Now give me my second!"

Carolina felt her grip loosening on their only weapon that could see them through this. "Hurry Epsilon!"

"Got it! Wash, see that panel above the wall that was ruptured?" Epsilon pointed to a red box with a glass cover and a huge button inside it. "Shoot it and the opening will close."

 _This had better work_. Washington raised his gun, but he could not get a clear shot. Justice seemed to be making her way over to them slowly. He looked back at Justice who was even closer now. _Oh god dammit!_ He looked back at Carolina and contacted her over the radio. "Hey Carolina, I am about to try something really crazy here. So if it doesn't work out, be sure to kick her ass real good for me, okay?"

"Wait, what do you mean?" she asked and he deactivated his gravity boots. Epsilon stared at the grey freelancer shooting away towards the button. "You crazy bastard!"

Washington was nearing the point of no return. He quickly shot off the gun. _Please hit_. The shutters closed fast just as Washington was about to begin crossing over. _Oh thank my lucky stars_. He fell with a loud thud, but this pain was much welcomed compared to the worse fate of dying alone from suffocation in space. Carolina lay still, she felt her body completely numb out. Just hanging on forced her to rely on every fibre of her strength. Justice looked quite displeased with yet another failed attempt at killing them. _They really do have a guardian angel. I suppose there is no other way to be thorough than to strangle you two with my own hands, burn you and throw your ashes out into space_.

* * *

Washington got up and activated his jets. He managed to stop Justice in her tracks through his momentum and began to push her back. "Get up Carolina!"

Killing the jets, Wash swung his left arm landing a blow to the side of her helmet. He swung his right arm, and followed it up with a knee to her stomach. None of these seemed to have an effect on her. _These suits are a resilient nuisance_. Just as he threw a barrage of punches, she ducked underneath, and with her metal hand she punched him once in the stomach and watched him fall to his knees. _She is too strong for us to fight like this. We need to use that weapon now_. Wash looked towards Carolina who held it tightly in her hands. "Get up…Carolina!"

Washington stood up, swung around with a roundhouse kick for it to be swiftly blocked by Justice and deliver a counter punch to his leg. Washington held the point of impact tightly. It was the same leg that Pure broke before. _Ow, so much for kicking_. He looked towards Carolina and was growing impatient. "Epsilon, talk some sense into her now!"

"Carolina, he needs our help!" Epsilon argued doing his best to send various signals of distress to her. She lay still on the ground, her eyes half open and strength completely drained. _I can't, I am too tired. I just want to rest now. I don't want to do anything else. Please, just leave me alone_. Epsilon was starting to become impatient with her. "If you don't get up, you will lose another person you care about!"

Carolina's eyes shot wide open at the realization. She slowly tilted her head upwards to see Washington struggle against Justice's tight grip around his neck. _Epsilon, why was it that I survived when everyone in the village had to die because of me?_

The fragment did not know how to deal with her survivor's guilt. He could only say things he thought were the right thing to say, but he could not fully comprehend the feelings she would experience from such words. After all, words are just as powerful as bullets or medicine depending on the effect they have. "I don't know why we survived. It was maybe because the whole village looked out for us till the end, especially when Ben came to evacuate us. But I know that we can do something for them while still alive. Those who killed them should not be allowed to get away with their crimes!"

 _I thought I was prepared, but I am still weak_. Carolina rested one hand on her knee and the other onto the ground. She looked down with disappointment in her own abilities and reached for the harpoon. Epsilon could understand this helplessness. From the recordings he was left behind, he knew that she has experienced this many times before. "Carolina, I don't know if you are stronger than her, but sometimes you just have to have faith. Maybe that will be enough to see you through this."

Washington threw a great many punches at Justice and landed several. _Dammit, if only I had that harpoon!_ He butted her with his shoulder and kicked her down to the ground. But she quickly recovered and just as quickly he had put her down, she had him in a tight hold by his neck and arm. "Ow, you don't give up do you?"

She remained quiet and applied more pressure to the arm. He could feel it slowly coming to the point of snapping. _Uh oh, not good_. Washington eyed Carolina kneeling and gritted his teeth holding back the pain. "Carolina, tag in, tag in!"

"Get angry Carolina!" Epsilon demanded. "Use that anger against her! Even if it means fulfilling that revenge then fine, but get angry and bring her down!"

Carolina could feel something snapping. Something was slowly unravelling from deep within her mind. The locks placed on the gateway to her anger were slowly coming loose. She breathed heavily and felt her mind slowly go numb. Epsilon's words echoed in her mind. _You are not responsible, they are_. She looked up and held the harpoon tightly in her hand. Epsilon looked to his side to see the sudden flare in Carolina's anger and attitude with wonderment and a sense of shock. "Hold on tight, I am going to run your speed unit. When I activate that, go in for the hit."

* * *

Justice was not ignorant to this however. She released Washington onto the ground and drew her sword. _I suppose I should rid them of that contraption_. Justice thought as she eyed the harpoon. Swinging her sword around and stretching her arm, she took a defensive pose. _Shields are at one-hundred percent, good_. Epsilon counted down with his fingers and pointed towards Justice. "Now!"

Carolina ran forward too fast for human eyes to follow. But Justice was no stranger to such speed as her helmet's software helped her keep up. Carolina came in from the side with the harpoon pointed forward. It pierced through the air and with every second gone it greatly increased its force. Carolina looked at Wash who was ready to ambush Justice from the behind but held him off via a subtle hand sign. Justice activated her shield from the front, sparks flew upon contact and Carolina motioned for Washington to come up behind their enemy.

 _What is this one up to?_ Justice pondered as she saw Carolina raise her arm into the air. She threw the harpoon towards Washington. Justice's mouth dropped open and quickly turned to activate the shield on the other side. But she was too late. Carolina had her in a tight lock by her arms. Washington straightened his posture and aimed for her abdomen. Piercing the harpoon right through her suit, Carolina could see the blood splatter onto her armor and the ground. They could hear the painful grunts of the enemy. Justice bit her lip in an effort to hold back the scream. She wobbled around with the harpoon still inside her. The heat, the heat, it burned her insides. She could feel her whole body burning up from the area she was pierced into.

 _No, not like this_. Justice looked up with a glare and activated her sword. Just as she was about to cut the harpoon in half, Carolina jumped in and restrained the arm. "Pull it out now Wash!"

"Gah!" she could not hold back. Her voice let go. She screamed at the top of her lungs just as Wash pulled out the harpoon. He prepared for another attack, but Justice reacted quickly by kicking him in the shin, head butting Carolina and swung around her sword to cut the female freelancer in half. Unexpectedly, she was blown away a few meters by a sudden dome of a protective field. Carolina stood up relieved and thankful for Epsilon's quick efforts. "I'm glad I kept all that equipment installed in my suit."

"Yeah, don't mention it. Now go kick her ass," Epsilon stated swinging his arms quite confidently. Carolina activated her speed boost again and approached Justice whilst picking up the harpoon midway. The enemy fighter avoided the harpoon thrust and ducked beneath Carolina's arm. She swung her sword wide only to have Washington jump in last second and move Carolina out of the way. _Damn interruptions_. But her irritation slightly lifted at the sight of dripping blood from the cyan armored freelancer. _So that made a deep cut, good_. She began to widen her grin and limped towards the two.

Epsilon studied the area of impact doing his best to gather a quick analysis. "Wash, could use a little help here. Keep her away from us."

 _Right, I'm sure this will go well_. Washington wondered as stood between Justice and Carolina. Justice was in no mood to deal with this. She swung wide and wildly in the hopes of scaring the grey freelancer away. But Wash persisted and showed his own special set of close quarters combat skills to her. Thanks to her injury, she was significantly slower and had less power in her attacks now.

Washington dodged her short swing and came in from the back. He hit her damaged area and caused a sudden sting to spread throughout her body. Just as she was about to swing again, Wash held her arm and looked towards Carolina slowly standing up. "Carolina, do it now!"

The female freelancer slowly stood up with shaky legs. Epsilon did his best to support her with his words but in the end it was all down to willpower driven by her growing thirst. Revenge waited to be fulfilled. She began limping. She tightened her grip on the harpoon. She began walking. She held up the harpoon. She began running and she aimed the harpoon!

Tearing through the armor materials, the intense heat managed to pierce Justice's prosthetic robotic arm that held the sword. The metal melted clean off weakening the structure around the hole. The arm broke off. With a loud echo in the room, Justice was left with only one usable arm now. She however didn't intend on surrendering. Dodging the other thrusts, she managed to tackle Carolina away and kicked Washington in the stomach. She ran the best she could for her sword, but she was tackled down to the ground at the very last second.

"That sword is quite the hassle when an enemy is using it," said Washington as he punched her helmet to the right. Justice let out a tired grunt, her body had enough. She could barely keep her breathing calm and rhythmic. Instead it was growing out of control and becoming too erratic. The injuries were beginning to take a toll on her body. He got off of her and motioned for Carolina to walk over. "Let's make this quick for her."

* * *

Justice retracted her helmet surprising the two freelancers. _What is she up to?_ They both wondered. Justice grinned to herself as Carolina raised the harpoon in the air. "You won't even look me in the eyes with your own set of eyes when you kill me? To deliver a killing blow to an opponent in a worthy duel from behind a visor is a sign of a coward."

Carolina knew she was no coward. Instead right now she was a wild warrior, fighting only to avenge and to satisfy her bloodlust. She removed her helmet and stared into Justice's eyes. Everyone in the room knew that this was the end for Justice. The enemy fighter smiled in understanding. "So that is what drives you, revenge. I finally have my answer."

"Don't judge me with those eyes when you do the same," Carolina argued raising the harpoon into the air again. "You have done far worse things than I ever could in life. You deserve every bit of death headed your way."

"But your actions are based on hatred just like ours," Justice contended looking at the grey freelancer. "All of you fight because we purged that village and killed people who grew close to you do you not? Then how are you anymore noble than us?"

"We are nothing like you," Washington answered stepping forth and placing a reassuring hand on Carolina's shoulder. "We don't fight for selfish reasons unlike your lot."

"Maybe you don't," Justice said turning to stare into Carolina's gaze. "But she does. Her eyes tell me that hate covers every inch of her heart. Can you really claim this victory for your perceived sense of noble reasons then? In the end, nothing remains pure. The only difference between us is that while I control my hate, you have let yours hate control you. You are pitifully weak."

Carolina gritted her teeth in animosity. Her hands tightened around the handle with her mind in a typhoon of hatred. The faces of all the villagers she knew flashed one by one, their grievous faces as they burned alive. The beheaded head of Elsie lying still before her feet and the cold corpse of Edwards near the head. _I just have to do this, and then I will have my revenge. Then I could maybe finally move on!_

Carolina breathed deeply and muttered. "Enough, you will die by my hands you fucking monsters!"

Carolina swung down the weapon and it thrusted through Justice's chest. _So, this is it_. Justice pondered just as the tip pierced her armor. _I'm sorry Equal. It seems I won't be able to keep my promise to you after all_. The harpoon broke through her skin and punctured her heart along the way. It exited the other end leaving her to struggle in her own agony. She could feel her muscles contract at the sudden pain, and her heart struggling to maintain itself. The pain, it was too severe, almost as though she was having a heart attack! Her body began to grow numb and her eyes slowly closed. Her whole body lied still in the face of her two opponents.

 _If there is such a thing as after life, then maybe we will meet there again Equal_. With those last thoughts she felt her consciousness fade from this world into the final destination of death. Wash bent down to check her pulse and looked back with a nod. "It's done, she is dead."

* * *

Carolina bent down and began punching Justice's corpse in the face. Left, right, left, right and repeat all over again! Wash looked at her for a moment, shocked and frozen from inaction. She beat her face to a pulp, causing blood to spill to both sides and her fists covered in the crimson red. "This was for Edwards, Elsie, Walters, Ben and everyone else you killed you bitch!"

"Carolina!" Wash sternly called out to her as he held her by her arms and tried to stop her. "She is already dead!"

"What does it matter?! She still deserves to experience more pain!"

"Listen to yourself! Are these the words of the Carolina I know?!"

She froze at the inquiry. He was right. She looked at her fists covered in red. _Releasing my hatred felt so good, but what did this bring me in the end asides from revenge? I can't bring them all back now can I? They are gone forever. Carolina collapsed onto the floor and stared at Justice's corpse. I really am no better than the New Order. She was right. I did let my hate control me_. Epsilon looked back and forth from everyone worriedly but felt her heart rate calm down. When Carolina closed her eyes, she could still see the corpses lying before her feet. The dead remain dead, and no amount of revenge and hatred could ever bring them back. This was reality and she finally had to face it.

"So," Epsilon interjected in on the moment. "What do we want to do about the sword?"

"You keep it Wash," Carolina muttered unable to accept such an artifact with such an impure heart. Wash tried to argue against it but he was stopped short by Carolina. "You deserve it more than I do. Right now, I am no warrior, I was just a woman driven by blood lust for selfish reasons. I can never accept such a symbolic artifact with how I am."

"Plus, aren't you like the resident badass with the knives?" Epsilon asked pointing to the knife on the ground. Washington picked up the knife with a smirk. "Maybe."

"Then you could become the badass with the sword to probably," Epsilon pondered with his arms crossed. "But best not show Tucker up, after all he does take pride in being the badass sword space warrior."

"Yeah," Wash thought out loud picking up the sword and activating it. _I suppose it is better for us to keep them safe than to let anyone else have them and potentially abuse them_. Wash stored the sword safely to his side and helped Carolina settle down. She looked out towards the damaged they caused and felt it resonate with her chaotic mind and heart. _I still need to grow a lot more. This is not good enough. I need to be better than this to be the best_.

* * *

 **A/N: And so comes an end to Justice's life. Now only the head honcho remains. Look forward to the next chapter where Equal continues his battle with the BGC.**

 **Also, what did you think of the chapter? Feedback is appreciated.**

 **Thanks for reading and support! :)**

 **~ Monty Mason**


	24. Demon to the End

**Chapter 23: Demon to the End**

Tucker and Grif slowly approached Equal. The New Order leader stared at the alien swords drawn in their hands, and took a keen interest in the one in Grif's hand. _That belonged to Truth, oh how bittersweet it is for the past to haunt me_. Equal took out his own sword and began to walk in a circular path as the opponents faced one another. Grif took the initiative, he came in swinging hard! Equal avoided the swing and elbowed him in the face. Tucker came in from the left, Equal took the arm Grif held the sword with and swung it towards Tucker.

"Oh shit! Watch it dude!" Tucker complained with Grif saying the same as he narrowly dodged Tucker's sword. Equal kicked Grif away and made contact with Tucker's sword. Sparks flew out from the instant contact, and light flashed before their eyes as the very molecules making up the sword struggled against one another. The two retracted their swords and swung it to the side. Flashes and sparks escaped the point of contact once again, but Equal was on the winning front as with his superior technological strength, he applied more pressure onto Tucker. The aqua soldier looked towards Grif and shouted. "I could use some help here!"

Grif ran into the skirmish swinging his sword wildly. _If all else fails, hope for the best!_ His wild swinging antics however would do no good for them as his swings aimed both at Equal and Tucker. Equal retracted his sword, stored it and kicked Grif on the back of his knee. Held him by his sword arm, he twisted it backwards and kneed Grif in the spine. Tucker could only freeze at the sight. _Ouch, that has got to hurt_.

Grif got back up pretty quickly however and swung the sword to his right. It narrowly missed Equal, but nearly made contact with Tucker. "Hey, watch it!"

 _These two are not as well coordinated with the sword it seems_ , Equal pondered using this weakness to his advantage. The two ganged up on him and managed to bring him down to the ground just as he was gaining momentum. Equal slowly picked himself and kneeled with his head low. His mind felt shaken. Even now he could not get completely used to the disorientating effects of combat. Grif pierced the air with his sword, and Equal bent his head to the right missing the sword. Tucker pushed forward with his left foot and applied a great deal of pressure onto Equal's chest. "Just go down already!"

"Sorry to disappoint you, but I can't do that!" Equal stopped Tucker's swing and bent his elbow uncomfortably. Grif came in from the back, but with a firm grip onto the ground, Equal kicked Grif away on the face. Equal came around and slowly walked towards Tucker. "So Captain, is this what you envisioned all of this amounting to in the end, is this how you thought of ending our conflict?"

"No," Tucker mumbled with his visor facing the floor. "I thought of kicking your ass real good. This is kind of the opposite actually."

Equal could not help but laugh at the humor attempt. "For once I must agree with you."

Equal swung up his leg and kicked Tucker's head off the floor. He took it with his hands and threw it towards the nearby wall. Grif got up slightly bruised and angrier. He ran for the skirmish from Equal's blind spot, but his efforts were not good enough. Equal dodged the sword swings and ducked beneath Grif's arm. He held Grif by the neck and applied hard pressure to the point Grif started to choke. "I bet this wasn't something you had in mind either when you envisioned our fight now did you?"

Tucker cleaned his visor of the built up dust and looked at the struggle behind him. He raised his sword and swung to his side. Equal noticed the danger and spun around with Grif still in arms. The sword made contact and it cut through Grif's armor!

 _Eh?_ Tucker was left speechless at the blood that flew out towards him. This was not Equal's blood. It was the blood of his ally. _No…oh fuck!_ Tucker immediately panicked as he saw Grif falling to the ground. Simmons became scattered and tried to get over to Grif's position. But his beaten body would not allow it. "Grif!"

* * *

Equal picked up Grif and threw him to the side. "If you want him so badly, then take him back. The battlefield has no use of such weaklings. Fighting is better left up to those who are fit for it after all."

Simmons shook Doc awake and with a pleading tone he begged for the medic to study Grif's injury. Sarge rattled awake at hearing the cries all around him. "Simmons, Simmons, tell me. Has the lord finally heard my prayers?"

"No," Everyone looked at Grif still breathing and well. Sarge was visibly irritated. "Why will he never listen?!"

"It's nice to know you care so much," Grif noted sarcastically before Doc cleared his throat. "It's not a deep cut. Just a flesh wound so to say."

The whole room could hear Sarge grunt in dissatisfaction prompting Grif to shake his head. "Just go back to playing unconscious Sarge."

"Okay, bleh!" Sarge dropped onto the floor. Everyone returned their attention to the two combatants who seemed to be having an intense staring competition. But it was more than that, they were playing this out. They were waiting for the other to make the first move and react accordingly. Much to the BGC's surprise, Tucker actually kept himself well composed.

Yet someone had to be the first to go, and predictably it was Tucker. Equal held Tucker in his spot and lifted him over his shoulders. His legs kicked into high gear applying more strength to the joints to help lift the weight. Equal slammed Tucker's body against the wall and watched it fall lifelessly to the ground. He took out his sword and strode about for a bit waiting for the aqua soldier to stand back up. "Is this your limit Captain Tucker? After all the threats and the damage you caused us, this is all you can manage in a direct confrontation?"

Equal lessened the distance with the intent to deliver the final blow. But Tucker turned around last minute and without a solid sense of direction he swung his sword. It grazed and damaged Equal's helmet causing him to back away in slight panic. Sparks flew out from the damaged areas of the helmet. Equal did his best to retract it, but it could no longer fold up as efficiently as it once could before. Instead, he ripped it off of his face and threw it to the side. "I didn't think you would play dirty tricks of that nature."

"I can play dirty when I need to," Tucker held up his sword and made contact with Equal's. The two struggled against one another's strength. But Equal had it won in the end with his greater strength. Equal kicked Tucker in the shin, elbowed him in the abdomen and delivered a swift uppercut. Tucker fell to the ground, his whole body shaken and numb. Equal could not help but smirk at such weakness in his enemy. "And I can be extremely cruel even towards the weak when I need to."

Equal raised his sword for a decisive blow, but was abruptly interrupted by a flying sword that made a clean cut through his sword holding arm! Equal looked up in horror and then behind him. He saw Grif's hand stretched outward. The sword was Grif's. Tucker took the opportunity to make a clean slice through Equal's legs. Without any pain, Equal fell down to the ground with a loud thud. He looked at his legs shocked to see such damage. Within a matter of seconds he was at a great disadvantage. Equal eyed his sword and slowly but surely turned himself over to reach for it. Tucker noticed such efforts and did his best to hinder the now crippled enemy.

Equal gritted his teeth and did his best to move his limbs. The legs specifically began to malfunction a little at the sudden rise in emotions. The chemical imbalance was too great. What his mind desired was no longer agreeable to what his body did. He began to solely rely on his arms to carry him forward. Tucker followed Equal and further kicked away the sword. "Give up, this is the end."

"I won't!" Equal felt winded after a few more drags towards the sword. He tried to reach out to it with his undamaged arm but that was not good enough, not when he was under the watchful eye of Tucker. His other arm was not cut off as well. He stared in anger, sadness and shock. Tucker retrieved his sword and kicked Equal over. "You should have known shit like this never ends well man."

* * *

"Yeah, kick his ass!" Sister encouraged from behind Lopez. O'Malley could not agree more, he too wanted to see Equal broken and defeated for all the things he put them through. The whole of BGC went silent at the sudden laughter from Equal. They could not understand what was so funny, but Equal was more than willing to oblige their curiosity and confusion. "You think you are any better than me for doing this?"

"Let's see, we are basically about to stop a dictator. So yes, we do think we are better than you," Tucker walked around in circles with Equal's body in the center. The enemy could not help but be amused at the ignorance. "And you believe that there will be no consequences for any of the deaths you have caused?"

"What are you talking about?" Muffins inquired getting up and helping his two Privates up. Equal stared all around with a condescending glare. "You are all murderers. You involved people from Sector-D in what essentially became genocide for our people there. Have you forgotten about your actions there?! You are all no nobler than me and monsters all the same!"

The whole room remained silent. The guilt of all those lives lost and many more carried heavily in everyone's heart. Tucker bent down beside Equal and firmly looked him in the eyes. "We haven't forgotten. How could we? But we know that we are better than you. We don't do this for revenge. We do it to free people from your oppressive regime."

"I wonder how oppressive the New Order really is when faced with the corruption surrounding the UNSC and the Earth Government. People there live in constant lies and fear. They are under surveillance everywhere they go and still in danger of being involved in a great terrorist tragedy. So what the hell is the Government even doing there except for spouting pretty words to look good to the people?" Equal took in a deep breath and stopped to consider his next few words. "But we took actions. We did things even if you may not agree with the methods. We unlike the Earth Government took a stand against corruption."

"With more corruption as the driving power," Simmons interjected arguing their flawed methods. "Before I wouldn't have been able to say this but having felt it, I now know what revenge and hate are like. That is what drives your organization and it is nowhere near the things you would want to promote in a healthy society. In the end, your system is corrupt."

Equal understood that he was not getting through to any of them. He rested his head back and closed his eyes. He could feel his mind wander with a heavy sense of guilt in defeat. _Even as their leader I could not stand up to them. Maybe I really did underestimate their individual strength, or simply their dumb luck. Whatever the case, it is all too late now. It seems that I have failed my people. I will never be able to keep my promises to anyone now_. Equal felt his body numb a little at the light headed sensations he experienced presently.

* * *

… _What is going on?_ Equal wondered as he saw the darkness absorb his image completely. Out of the darkness, he could begin to see an outline. Horns formed on what was once Equal's head. Wings began to spread out of his back. Claws extended from both his hands and feet. Dark purple scales covered his whole body with a red shroud of fog. But the most disturbing aspect of this new being before him was the creature's eyes. The eyes were one to easily instill fear and fracture one's mind easily. Those eyes were filled with unending hate.

 _Is this what I have become?_ Equal wondered suddenly feeling some supernatural gravity acting on his body. It drew him closer to this satanic beast against his will. Like a puppet attached to a string, no matter how hard it would fight it must still obey the will of its master, Equal had to obey the will of his unknown and mysterious puppeteer as it raised his arm up towards the beast. _What the hell? Let go of me!_ Equal pondered struggling so very hard against this force.

This time, the demon pulled Equal to the other side and switched places with him. Funny thing about it was that he did not even bother resisting. But at the same time it was curious for him to not resist against such a demonic force. The demon now stood on the side of the bodies and it's visage of flames began to seep from its body. The crimson flames burned even brighter now with them slowly consuming all. The demon slowly turned to face him with a growl. It was a growl most foul reeking of impurity.

 _Is this my hate, and is this what it will bring in the end to me?_ Equal wondered. He watched the flames light a path in this dark void, and yet at the same time it made his mind anxious. _Have I been consumed by hate completely to the point of no return? Am I now on this other side still filled with that dark void and completely alone?_

Equal heard a set of footsteps behind him. He was afraid, too afraid to turn and look at what approached his way at a moderate pace. _No, I have to look. I can't be so afraid!_ He turned and saw a figure standing before him. The body of the person he thought to never meet again and it left him with a shocking impression. It was Locus. "What…are you doing here?"

"Turn back," Locus answered with a concerned tone. Equal looked behind him, there was nothing there. _Turn back to where?_ He wondered and when he looked back at Locus, the mercenary was approaching him slowly. "You have strayed Equal, turn back."

"I don't understand."

"Is this what you wanted out of your quest to provide something better for the people here?"

Equal shook his head. Locus then continued motioning all around him. "Look at this destruction, all of it is your doing."

"But necessary!"

"No," Locus took a firm stand in this argument as he pointed at the bodies. "This could have been avoided had you given up your fool's errand of revenge! You could have been living peacefully right now. And I wouldn't have had to die."

Equal remained silent as he looked beyond Locus and onto the destruction. Even death surrounded him on this side now. That sense of peace he yearned for was nowhere to be felt. _Trying to guilt trip me?_ He pondered looking down at the corpses of his allies. Equal stared back up at Locus and shook his head in disbelief. "You supported our ideals and goals before you betrayed me. Do you know how badly that stung? You were like a brother to me and even that was taken from me. My peaceful life after the war, my body, you and my sanity…all of it taken by the very bastards I fought the war for. Now you tell me that my ambitions here are nothing more than a fool's errand? You have no right to judge me Locus, especially not when you betrayed my trust!"

"It was the right thing to do."

"It was betrayal, since when has that been the right thing to do?!"

"If done for the correct reasons," Locus looked all around him with a saddened gaze. "Then it is the right thing to do. Your beliefs and mine differ, you know this already and you understand it. What you perceive as the correct course to justice, I perceived that as hypocrisy. What you perceive as truth and reality, I perceived that as nothing more than an illusion to run away into."

"Run away?" Equal pointed to his right at the destroyed UNSC fleet. "We are not running away, we are doing exactly what we intended to!"

"But you ran away from your responsibility of doing the best you could for your people," Locus countered further arguing. "You instead enslaved people, brainwashed them and manipulated the mass consciousness to better meet the needs of your own goals. What you have is nothing more than a dictatorship to serve your own purposes of revenge. Forgive and move on Equal."

"You don't know anything about me, even when I thought you did," Equal felt his anger rise. His mind began to fall into chaos and feelings of grief surged. "To be betrayed by my own brother in arms, it is a betrayal most foul. Just disappear!"

Locus' body began to suddenly implode on itself. There was a singularity forming from within Locus' chest that caused him to crackle and twist into it. Everything around Equal suddenly started disappearing into this eternal darkness that grew with everything it absorbed. A black hole faced Equal. Soon there was nothing left to absorb but Equal. This black hole captured his eyes filled with darkness from that of his mind and his heart. _Is there no light left in my life then?_ He pondered slowly feeling his body tear apart molecule by molecule. Soon, his whole body was consumed leaving no trace of his existence…

* * *

 _That's right, I remember now. That is how that nightmare ended_. Equal let out a heavy breath remembering Locus' words of turning away from this path. But Equal felt no remorse. He felt no guilt for making the choice to walk on this path in life, but his actions against the people still haunted him deeply. It was because of his selfish ambitions alongside few others, he caused a greater tragedy than the UNSC. _Still, it was a good run I suppose_. Equal breathed in deeply and smiled wide. "I don't regret what I did."

 _Yes, that's how I want to die. I will say that to the end so that my legacy is preserved_. Everyone in the room stared pitifully at Equal. He was nothing more than a shell right now. He was harmless as he is but still a threat should he ever recover. _But I do wonder if I ever got any closer to achieving our goals. Even if I did a lot of things that I can never repent for, it was necessary in the end. I do hope we achieved something for all the sacrifices I forced onto the people_.

Sarge walked over to Tucker and patted the blue soldier on the shoulder. "You know it has to be done Tucker."

"But he is helpless now," Tucker looked at Equal with hesitant eyes. "Can't we let the military deal with him now?"

"And what if he recovers and causes more damage in the future?" Grif wondered as he retrieved his sword with the help of Simmons. Tucker bit his bottom lip. _This fucking sucks!_ He could not believe that they would have to kill him. Tucker already had enough deaths on his conscience as it was. O'Malley raised his rifle aimed at Equal's head. "If you won't do it, then I will."

"Stop!" Tucker diverted the aim and pushed Doc away. "I…I will do it myself. He is a complete dick, but at least he deserves a clean death like everyone else."

Equal looked at the bickering soldiers and pondered with a lighter mind. _Is this it then, is this really my end?_ Tucker raised his sword into the air and aimed for Equal's chest. This still did not feel right to Tucker. To kill this criminal all in the name of justice, surely there must have been some other way. But there was none, not right now anyways. Equal smiled wider at the thought of death. _Maybe I will finally be released from the burdening responsibilities that I carry in life. Maybe I will finally find peace_.

Tucker pierced the sword through Equal's chest, and without much resistance Equal felt his life wither. His eye lids lost all strength to stay open, his heart struggled to push forward with its beat and his muscles relaxed beyond his awareness. Death came in a black shroud and wrapped its arms around him. With a cold, empty and lifeless embrace his life was ended then and there. Tucker took out his sword and bent down to check the pulse. "It's done."

Everyone in the room gave a moment of silence.

* * *

"Holy shit," Grif walked over to Equal's corpse still unable to believe that they won. "We actually did it!"

"Yeah, we kicked his ass good!" Sister shouted from behind Lopez, finally annoying him enough to start maintaining some distance from her. Simmons bent down besides the corpse with Edward's cellphone in his hand and gritted his teeth. _I thought seeing you dead would make me feel better. But I guess I thought wrong. Instead it makes me feel the opposite. Elsie, Edwards, does this mean that I no longer have the strength to deal with that hate or the drive for revenge?_

"So, what do we do about the sword?" asked Private Buttmunch.

"Oh, shiny!"

Everyone looked towards Caboose and face palmed. Sarge did not feel comfortable in the slightest letting Caboose keep it, but now it was too late. "So who wants to guess that the world will end because of Caboose here?"

"Yeah, we are fucked," Grif took a few steps back along with everyone else. Tucker rubbed the back of his head semi-confident. "Calm down guys. I'm sure I can train him."

"Can you really?" asked Doc. "Because I have done my psycho-analysis on Caboose in the past and yeah, no."

"I'm sure I could…I mean, maybe."

"Gee, you have a way with words that just inspires confidence Tucker," Grif sarcastically noted before looking at Sister. _Thank the god she stayed still during the fight_. The little sister rushed over to study her brother's injury and inquire about his safety. Lopez from afar recorded everything in his databanks as per protocol, and a means to record the journey of the Reds and the Blues of Blood Gulch Canyon.

* * *

Junior flew out into a small Covenant fighter alongside his brothers and sisters and entered the battlefield with extreme impact. Destroying several New Order jet fighters and ships along the way, they were joined in by a squadron of UNSC jet fighters. On their way to the space station, they were met with much resistance. But thanks to their coordination and advanced weaponry, they managed to overcome their enemy. Junior contacted his squad leader requesting to that they begin the hacking procedure to the Sector-C docking doors.

Suddenly they all came under heavy fire from the defense line! But the Covenant cruiser and the UNSC ships came to the rescue with a counter-attack of their own. The dock doors opened and several ships flew past the defense line. The soldiers all braced for impact and a rough landing. Washington and Carolina stared at the open doors suddenly depressurizing the area. They activated their gravity boots with one single looming thought in their minds. _What now?_

Two Covenant fighters and two UNSC jet fighters flew into the hanger bay and immediately killed their jets. They hovered in one spot and flashed a light towards the freelancers. UNSC Pilot number one took the liberty of informing his Captain. "We have found two individuals from that message we received sir. What are our orders for them?"

"Accompany them to the tower, I am sure they will gladly show you the way to our common enemy."

"Yes sir," UNSC Pilot number two replied and landed his jet. Junior exited his ship and looked at his fellow Sangheili brother who took the liberty of commenting on the two freelancers. "[It looks like we have two Shisnos here.]"

"Hey," the voice of UNSC pilot one came from behind the two aliens. "I heard that! Shisno means something bad doesn't it?"

"Just drop it man," the other UNSC pilot said shaking his head in annoyance. Junior looked back to his comrade. "[Make that four in total.]"

"Now let me see here, I have that recorded," UNSC pilot one took out his translator and transferred the audio file. The translator decoded the message into binaries and rebuilt it into the human language. "I hope them Shisnos know how to shake that booty."

"Wait, that doesn't seem right," the UNSC pilot one wondered with the scratch of his head. The other one took out his translator and tried it on his. "Milk and Cookies! Milk and Cookies! Santa Claus is coming to town Shisnos!"

"That doesn't sound right either," the second UNSC pilot mumbled. "Maybe that's why the UNSC military got these shitty translators for dirt cheap prices."

Washington stared at the Sangheili in aqua blue armor with curiosity. _So that's Tucker's kid. Hmm, kind of feels strange to even think about Tucker being a father_. The UNSC pilots approached the freelancers offering their aid. But they were just fine on their own.

"We need your help getting to where Equal is sir," said one of the pilots as he displayed their orders. Apprehend and arrest the individual known as Equal, if not viable, then kill him on the spot. Washington helped Carolina along and motioned for the rest to follow. "Epsilon, chart a route to the tower the others went to. We will go there by any spare cars we can find."

* * *

In a matter of minutes, they had reached the tower and were shocked to see the piles of bodies in the hallway. _Must have been a hell of a party we missed_ , Epsilon noted through his direct link with Carolina. Washington led the group to an elevator. They were unsuccessful in using it. One of the Sangheilis pointed up the stair well and the others agreed to the idea. Running upwards, with every floor they swore the body count seemed to be rising to an exponential level. One of the UNSC soldiers wiped their forehead and noted. "They must have had a hell of a time getting up here."

"That they must have," Washington poked his head out on the top floor and heard familiar voices coming from within the only office on this floor. _They made it safe and sound, I'm glad_. The others walked into the office and met the gazes of the others. Several jumped at the new faces and nearly drew their weapons. Washington stepped in between the two groups and told them all to calm down. Junior walked past everyone to Tucker. "Junior?"

"[Dad!]" Junior held open his arms and clamped them around Tucker's tired form. He lifted his father up into the air happily. "It's good to see you to son. Now could you loosen up a little? Feels like you are going to break my spine."

"[Just like he broke the door in between her legs]," Junior's friend noted with Junior confidently smirking. "[Bow-Chicka-Honk-Honk!]"

Everyone from the UNSC gave the father and son questionable looks prompting Grif to answer. "Don't ask, long story."

Carolina shoved past everyone in her way to the very corpse she had once hoped to create herself. Equal lay on the ground with a most gentle and happy look on his face, and Carolina felt satisfied with just that. She no longer felt the driving hate she felt with Justice, it had been suppressed to manageable levels now. _With this, the New Order is no more_. She smiled under her helmet, something she had forgotten to do ever since Elsie's death. Her mind and chest grew lighter from the worry uplifting. She let out a small laughter prompting others to follow her lead. This was it, this was the end and now all that was left was the cleanup.

"So," Sarge walked towards the UNSC pilots. "What happens now?"

"Well our orders are to escort you all to a ship that will transport you back to Blood Gulch."

 _Blood Gulch huh_ , Carolina wondered with a longing look in her eyes. She noticed the sword on Caboose's thigh armor and wondered of all the ways this could go wrong. But also of all the ways their dumb luck may just aid them all with their newly acquired weapons. She leaned against a wall for support, but did her best to not apply any more pressure than necessary on her wound. _I wonder if my place is still in Blood Gulch…or perhaps elsewhere now_.

"The military will take care of the rest," the UNSC pilots began to leave the room. "If you will follow us, we will escort you to your ship."

"Give me a moment here," Tucker called out Sigma and asked for him to take a picture of Junior and him together. "I gotta get an updated photo. Maybe I will even print it out back at home base."

"Captain Tucker, I am not retrofitted with camera features. Besides, such a thing would be a waste of my potential."

"Don't worry," Donut walked up to the three and activated his helmet's built-in camera. "I got you covered Tucker. Now, smile!"

Everyone looked back at Equal's corpse one last time. They all felt their experiences here weigh heavy on them, but at the same time they felt that such experiences also helped mature them a little. Not only have they taken down Project Freelancer, a war monger, a corrupt military official and a business man, but now a dictatorship as well. Their track record for defying all odds stacked against them to do the unthinkable was growing fast. With the respectful nod of their heads towards Equal and all those they had encountered because of this adventure, they left for the ride home.

* * *

 **A/N: Equal's time has come and gone and so another enemy falls to the might of the Reds and Blues :). What did you all think of the way things played out?**

 **This story is coming to a close soon. I hope you look forward to the end!**

 **Thank you for your readership and support!**

 **~ Monty Mason**


	25. I Need to Grow

**Chapter 24: I Need to Grow**

The BGC looked all around at their rather comfortable accommodations with relief. They all needed the rest. They remained seated as per the instructions of the flight crew. Outside, they were travelling through a warp pathway. The various colors that coated their eyes from the exterior established a sense of relaxation and wonderment in them. It truly was a spectacle to see what humans have created and how far they have come as a species, but at the same time quite saddening because of their violent nature.

Clack!

Everyone turned to look at the flight crew member that approached the red leader and asked for him to follow. It was time for the debriefing. "I'm sorry to disturb you like this on your trip back home sir. I know you must be tired, but orders are orders."

"That's fine."

The attendee knocked on a metal door and slid it open. Inside was darkness with a single bulb light over a table and two chairs sitting opposite to one another. On one of the chairs sat a man in a captain's uniform, proudly displaying the many medals he has earned over his years of service in the military. He looked up at the two and greeted them to enter. He took of his cap and fashioned his hair quickly. "My apologies for this display gentlemen. Due to the recent events, it would seem that I have been neglecting my sleep a little too much."

He quickly combed his grey hair and beard, rubbed his eyes to provide better clarity and motioned towards the chair. "Please, take a seat."

The Captain looked towards his crew member and dismissed him. "I am sorry for this sudden debriefing, but as per the UNSC Military rules, I have to do them. So let's begin with your name. According to this report so generously written and donated by Captain Muffins, your name is 'Itchy Trigger Fingers', correct?"

"You said that report was written by Muffins?" the red leader shook his head in thought. _No wonder he got my name wrong_. "My name is Sarge."

* * *

Itchy Trigger Fingers (aka Sarge):

"Please forgive the misunderstanding Sarge," the Captain wiped his forehead and rummaged through the report. "I wonder how much of this will be accurate."

"If I were a betting man, I would say it has a chance of being accurate at about two percent."

"You have that little faith in Muffins?"

"You will have had to see the things he did to believe my words," Sarge waved his hands in the air frustrated with some course of actions Muffins took in the past. "I don't think I have met anyone crazier than that."

"Right," the Captain brought out a few documents and placed them before Sarge. "Can you please confirm whether you were responsible for all the deaths in Sector-D or not?"

"The what now?"

"Do you not remember?" The Captain was rather shocked to hear this. But then again the first impression the group has made on him so far stays in line with this type of behavior. "Your little stunt caused thousands to lose their lives when you needed to board the station to rescue Private Tucker."

"Er that," Sarge shifted in his chair before speaking again. "That was Muffins' idea. We warned him not to do it, but he did it anyways. If it were up to me, I would have preferred the good old fashioned approach of going up to our enemies and kicking them in the keister. Either that or maybe go up to them and ask nicely to come in, and then turn the tables with a good shot gunning. But all I can say is that they got Sarged…hard."

The Captain reached for the intercom with a heavy sigh. _This is going to be a long day_. "Send in the next one please."

* * *

Resident Nerd (aka Simmons):

"So according to this report you are the 'Resident Nerd', also known as Dick Simmons," the Captain looked up at the Maroon soldier who agreed. "I hope you can be a little more enlightening than your Sergeant from before."

The Captain flipped a page and pointed out to a passage in the report. "It says here that with the help of your allies, you were able to defeat a high ranking officer of the New Order in one of their factories. Based on the reasons cited, revenge is one of them. Tell me Private, what could have prompted such desire for revenge?"

Simmons remained quiet and his head low. _You know the answer, and yet you still ask me. What is this, some sick mind games crap?_ The Captain cleared his throat still waiting for an answer, but a few minutes later he gave up and pointed out another section of the report. "Do you think you could talk about your interactions with the folks of the planet and the space colony in detail?"

Simmons lowered his head even further. Just thinking about the planet brought back the memories, and the guilt. He balled his hands into fists resting on his knees, and gritted his teeth. _The sooner I answer his questions, the faster this can be over I suppose_. He looked up with slight hesitation but mostly determination. "It's a long story, so get comfortable."

* * *

The Lazy Slob (aka Grif):

"How is your wound son?" The good Captain pointed towards Grif's chest. The Orange soldier shook his shoulders. "Meh, it will heal."

"Well it's good to see you high spirited, if only your stomach was not as active right now would have been grand."

"Tell your crew to not leave the pantry unlocked then. If it's open, then it is open season," Grif crossed his arms in self-defense. The Captain removed his glasses and let out a heavy sigh of annoyance. "Private, is it true that you sometimes encouraged your sister's habit of raiding our medical camps?"

"I don't see how that has anything to do with the debriefing."

"But is it true?"

"Depends," Grif thought about it for a minute. "Was the overall outcome good or bad?"

"It was very bad every time," the Captain leaned closer with a very stern look on his face. Grif shifted a little farther into his chair. "Then I respectfully choose not to answer."

* * *

Senor Spanish Man (aka Lopez):

 _Why would they even send a Spanish speaking robot in here? I don't even speak Spanish!_ The Captain looked at his helper with irritated eyes. These sessions were quickly becoming rather tiresome for him. While the BGC soldiers were exactly what he expected, the level of stupidity surrounding them was unknown to him exactly. "Next!"

Lopez got up to leave with a sense of satisfaction in this quick session. Captain held out his hand towards his helper and said. "Also get the man some headlight fluid! The report said specifically to get him some headlight fluid!"

* * *

The Penetrator (aka Tucker):

The Captain slumped his shoulders and rested his forehead in his left palm. _How did we get from talking about the New Order incident to this? Someone help me, I am going to die of stupidity_.

"You see, everyone else ended up getting a sword so now it's all become a sword measuring contest. But the difference between them and me is that I make this look good. Am I right or am I right? Also there was this hot chick back on the space station. I should have totally gotten her number and hit her up, before she got blown out into space that is," Tucker crossed his legs and confidently waved his arms.

The Captain could not help but mind numbingly agree. With that Tucker was escorted out of the room and the Captain was left to weep in his own misery. _Why do I always get the stupid and the crazy groups to debrief?_

* * *

Totally Hot but Scary Lady (aka Carolina):

"Agent Carolina, I apologize for bringing you in while resting. I realize everyone would like to rest up as much as they can after what has happened, but protocols are protocols."

Carolina remained quiet, her aura was grim and so was her body posture. The Captain wiped his forehead wondering whether she will be of any use or not. "I was hoping you could clarify your relationship with two names mentioned in this report quite a lot asides from all of you, Edwards and Elsie."

Carolina gripped the sides of her chair and smashed it into pieces. The Captain jumped back and quickly motioned for his assistant to take her back. _I see why Muffins calls her a scary lady_.

* * *

Secretive Secret Agent Man (aka Washington):

The Captain stared at the grey soldier's visor. Wash looked him back in the eye. _Good posture, neutral aura and a man who looks like maybe sane in this group of loonies_. The Captain cracked a considerate smile thinking that this may just be his big break in these stress inducing investigations. "I am hoping you are able to shed more light on these matters than some of your other colleagues."

"I will try my best."

"You have no idea how glad I am to hear that," the good Captain let out a small laughter while trying to keep his composure. He gathered his documents together and began the briefing process. With some time and an in-depth conversation, Wash's information proved to be more than just worthy. It was exponentially valuable with every verification and detail he added to the report. The Captain was more than happy with the results and after an hour or two, they finally wrapped it up. "Well, well, it seems as if we over ran on the time here. But it was worth it. Thank you for your cooperation Agent Washington, I appreciate you making my life easy."

 _It went that bad huh_ , Wash wondered with a wide mischievous grin under his helmet. He nodded his head in respect and stood up to leave. The assistant opened the door and guided Washington to the area where the others were.

Inside the interrogation room, the Captain rubbed his beard in deep thought. _Most of the interrogations barring the ones from Private Simmons, Agent Washington and some of what Agent Carolina said seem useless. It is quite a wonder that this group has managed to survive this long on a battlefield_. He wrapped everything up and began to leave. _I suppose I should go have some words with Captain Muffins about this report_.

* * *

"Here we are sir, enjoy the rest of your ride," the attendant turned around to leave the way they came from. Wash looked at the lot before him, most were already snoozing with their legs and arms spread out wide on top of one another. Wash cracked a wide smile. _Rest well, you guys have earned it_. He noticed one person to be missing from the picture however. The grey soldier decided to take a short walk in search of her. _It would be better than sitting down again, especially after that painful hour of non-stop interrogation_.

He walked up a level and came across an observatory with a huge window looking out into whatever greeted them. On that same level he spotted her. She stood quietly in the corner doing her utmost best to not get in the way of the ship crew. Washington approached her from the back. She did not notice. _How strange, she is usually the first to draw her weapon in this situation_. He tapped her on the shoulder making her jump in her armor. "Sorry, did I surprise you?"

"Wash…," Carolina shook her head and looked back out at the multitude of colors surrounding the warp pathway. Wash gripped his waist from both sides and took in a deep breath. "It's pretty, isn't it?"

Carolina remained quiet. He eyed her from the side of his visor and wondered what she was thinking about. "How did your debriefing go? Mine went on for a good hour before the Captain let me out."

She remained quiet. He turned to her with concern reflecting in his eyes, not that she could see it anyways. Epsilon materialized in between the two and motioned towards Carolina. "She has been like that ever since we got off of the space colony. I have been trying to convince her but she is as stubborn as a mule. It's starting to get on my nerves actually."

"Stubborn about what?"

"Wash," Carolina called out in a quiet voice. Her tone indicated deep thought was put into this and that this was a very serious conversation he was about to have with her. "I am…thinking of leaving."

"Leaving?"

"Yes," she nodded her head while staring outside at the various rainbow colors. "Ever since my fight with that woman, Justice, on the space station, I have been thinking about this quite a lot. I have been thinking about her words to us, to me and that how right she was. I am nowhere near the best I used to think I was."

"What are you talking about? You are the strongest of us all, and the smartest."

"That's sweet of you to say," Carolina submitted with a happy smile. "But, I really am not."

"See what I meant by stubborn?" Epsilon again interjected and slumped his shoulders in defeat. "I have been trying to say otherwise to her but she will keep on moping around with this talk of going on a journey. See if you can get her to change her mind Wash, because at this point whatever I say just gets flushed out of her ears."

"Carolina, what is going on?"

"Justice was right about me losing myself to my hatred and the thirst for revenge it created. If I were really strong, I would not have so easily given myself over to such a desire. Instead I did give in and I was more than happy to do so," Carolina lowered her head in self disappointment. "I am weak. I need to grow, become stronger against such desires and negative emotions. I let you have that sword because I can't trust myself with it. I am no true warrior. I am just a woman empowered with these abilities and technologies, but deep down inside I am like any other fighter operating purely on emotions in the heat of the battle."

"We are all like that Carolina," Washington crossed his arms and looked outside. "It is only natural. We are only human after all. And for whatever reason, we were wired to think with emotions whenever we are in a fight or flight situation, or something bad happens to us. We have all been dealt several bad deals in the past. I wouldn't blame you for using hate as a means to a more positive end as we saw with the New Order."

"But I didn't fight for that," Carolina admitted balling her hands into fists. Her hands began to tremble with fear. She was scared of the person she became when consumed by the hate. "I fought because I wanted revenge for Elsie, Edwards, Ben, Walters and everyone else who died because of us. Even if we achieved nobler goals in the process, I never fought for any of that. Even now I wonder if I was right to have fought them as I was."

Washington was at a loss for words. He found it to be very frustrating as it was a trend he had been experiencing an awful lot lately. His inexperience in life was starting to show, but even so he would do his best to help. He noticed her take out a photo. It was the one that Elsie gave to her. He could hear a slight disturbance in her breathing. _Is she crying?_ He reached over and rested a hand on her shoulder armor. _Even the strongest have their moments of weakness_.

Carolina gently placed the photo back into her pocket and removed Wash's hand. "Thank you Wash, but I guess once we reach Blood Gulch, that is where we will depart. I should get used to handling my grief in my own way and alone."

"But you won't be alone," Epsilon again appeared between the two. She smiled under her visor with gratitude. "Are you sure you want to stick with me Epsilon?"

"I was given the responsibility of looking after you," he explained with a confident tone. "And I intend on seeing this through to the end."

"Thanks."

Wash was not sure what he could do or say that would make this situation any better for the whole group. "Are you sure you want to leave? I mean the others will be saddened."

"But they will get used to it pretty quickly," Epsilon noted at which the two Freelancers had to agree with. No matter what anyone would like to say about their weaknesses, adaptability was not one of them even if they did like to complain a lot. Carolina let out a worried sigh. "I would be lying if I said I was worried about leaving them. But they are in your care, so I will be happy with that knowledge. Plus, I have to do this. I need to conquer my own negative emotions and become the strong warrior that I really want to see myself as. I want to finally become the warrior I believe is worthy of one of these alien artifact swords."

"You do know that once it's attached to me, there are no take backs?"

"Yup," Carolina agreed with a loud and aware tone. "But if there were so many obtained by the New Order, I am sure that there are more out in the universe. If I can't find any, I am sure we can always duke it out to the death for yours."

Washington backed away a little, scared and not so fond of the idea. Carolina let out a hearty laughter bringing some relief to Wash's worried mind. "Don't worry Wash. That was just a joke."

"When do you plan on telling the others?"

"I haven't decided on that, but it will probably be when you guys are being dropped off in Blood Gulch Canyon."

He nodded his head and chose to respect her decision. This was something she really wanted to do, and he figured that neither he nor anyone else has the right to restrict her freedom. Just before leaving, he patted her on the back and said. "When you get back, drinks are on me. And be sure to bring back some interesting tales."

"We will see, we will see," she noted before he left for his own seat. She stared out the window again and agreed that this was her path now. This was where she wanted to go in life. _I will become stronger. I will conquer my negative emotions, and become a warrior of in-corruptible ideals. I will grow so that I can come back stronger and protect you all_.

* * *

 **A/N: Heads up, next chapter is the last one that will finish of this whole trilogy. I hope you have all enjoyed the ride so far in general. What do you think of Carolina going off on a journey to improve herself and grow as a fighter and an individual?**

 **Thanks for your support and readership!**

 **Please look forward to the final chapter! :)**

 **~ Monty Mason**


	26. Back to Square One

**Chapter 25: Back to Square One**

"Hold on everyone," the pilot of their small pelican pressed a few buttons. "We are now beginning atmospheric entry."

The ship's hull began to vibrate dramatically. The outside of the pelican was covered in a red and orange hue as the exterior metal battled the extreme temperatures of the atmosphere. Everyone hung tightly onto the safety bars fastened by their bodies. In a matter of minutes, the light within the seating area went from red to green. They were in the clear. Everyone cheered and looked outside to see the lush blue skies, the vibrant oceans and the little dots they figured were pieces of land. They were almost home.

"Check it out guys!" Donut exclaimed sticking his visor up close to the windows. Sarge leaned over the pink soldier and was relieved to see the familiar island. "Boys, get ready to crack out a can of beer because I am going to be celebrating all night."

"Finally, one plan I can get behind," Grif noted nodding his head. Even after all this time, Sarge felt a little weird to have the orange soldier agree with him. _No matter how many times I hear it from him, it always disturbs me right down to my core_. "Shut up Grif."

"Is Sheila okay?!" Caboose pushed the others out of the way to get a good look. They were too far away to get a clear picture, but from what they could tell, there were no more bodies on the ground. _Strange, someone has been busy cleaning up_. Tucker rubbed his chin and finally saw the mechanized killer machine walking out into the open. "There she is!"

Carolina stared at the floor of the pelican the whole time. Her mind was swirling in deep thought. Washington rested a palm on her shoulder and gave a reassuring nod. "Things will be fine, they will understand."

"I hope so," she looked at her family all piling on top of one another to get a clear view much to the annoyance of the pilot. "Whatever it is you are all doing back there, stop it! It's starting to shake the pelican!"

Simmons rummaged in one of his pockets and held up his USB. _The base computer will probably need to be rebuilt, or at least upgraded_. The pelican began to slow in its descent and with a gentle bump they touched down. The pilot turned off the engines and opened the back door. "Welcome home kiddies."

Sheila awaited the gang ever so excited to see them return. "Welcome back everyone, it is so good to see you all again!"

"Sheila!" Caboose ran out happily towards her and hugged her metallic legs. But just as quickly as he hugged her, he retreated in slight embarrassment and nervousness. Doc stepped out into the heat and stretched his legs. "Well, at least this place hasn't changed much, same old, same old."

"Except for the clear lack of dead bodies!" O'Malley complained finding the lack of corpses to be rather disappointing. "I could have used them for target practice!"

The ship crew looked at one another wondering, _he is a medic right?_ Donut ran outside to eye his garden patch. It was still in tatters. _I guess hoping that Sheila might have been able to do something about that was hoping for too much_. He noticed the others depart from the ship one by one and let out a long and relieved sigh. They all agreed on one thing and that it was good to be home no matter how shitty it may look to others. Sister jumped out in excitement. "Now I can make even more in my every night rave parties. Remember boys, five bucks per head!"

* * *

Washington stood up from his seat and playfully bumped shoulders with Carolina. "Go on, tell them."

She cleared her throat with a heavy feeling in her chest. It was anxiety and the thoughts of disappointment they may have. But she had to do it, she had to tell them. "Ahem, I have something I want to say to you all."

Washington exited the pelican alone. The others stared up her way wondering why she chose to spoke from within the pelican. Carolina looked all around and let out a deep breath. She was ready. "I have decided to not stay here for now."

"You have what?!" Tucker nearly fell down from the surprise. Epsilon suddenly appeared near the group. "This shouldn't be a surprise considering how she left before without a word to you guys. At least this time we are telling you all. I would say this is definitely a step up from before."

"Yeah but still…," Simmons tried to argue only to see her staring his way. The two locked into a deep stare towards one another. Even if they could not see their eyes, he could tell that she was serious and her mind was made up just from her confident body language. "I know what I said was sudden but it is something I need to do."

"Where will you go?" Caboose inquired with an innocent and curious nature. She looked up at the sky and rested her elbows onto her hands. "I don't know, maybe I will go to Earth. I will meet new people, learn new things and just maybe get stronger."

"Okay, have fun!"

Everyone looked at Caboose with their jaws dropped wide open. Tucker stepped forward with his mind still in shock. "You are okay with it Caboose? Even if it means that Church may leave us again?"

"Well it's not like I won't miss him," Caboose explained with an optimistic tone. "But he will be safe with her. And if that is what she wants to do then we should encourage her as friends."

"You know what Caboose," Sarge nodded his head feeling a tear come to his eyes from such mature words. "You have the right idea."

The remaining BGC soldiers looked all around and finally gave in. They began to see how stopping her would be wrong just for their own selfish reasons. Carolina however did not feel satisfied with just that. So she made a promise with the crew she intended to keep no matter the obstacles in life. "Remember, I maybe gone but we will meet again someday. I promise to you all that we will."

"When that day comes, remember," Washington smiled from underneath his helmet. "My offer about the drinks will still stand."

"Thank you Wash," Carolina looked up from him to everyone else. "Thank you everyone. Remember to be strong, for if you are then no force in this universe will be able to stop you. United you are all strong."

Epsilon interjected and deeply agreed to Carolina's words. "Yeah, have faith in one another just like you always have. It will help you see yourself through any situation you can imagine. In the short time I was with you all, I just want to say that I want to get to know you all better next time."

The ship's crew began the take off preparations and she waved a goodbye to them. Caboose stood in front of everyone with his hands by the sides of his mouth and shouted. "This isn't goodbye Carolina!"

She was taken by surprise by such words. _That's right. I just won't be here for a while_. She happily stopped waving and wished them the best one last time before the doors closed. Over the radio they all heard the familiar and energetic as ever Muffin. "Tata my Blood Gulch hommies! Whereas this adventure comes to an end, another begins with my domination plans. Look out world, here comes Fuhrer Muffins! Mwhahahahha!"

The ship began to take off. Washington looked at the ascending bird and smiled happily for her. _Safe travels Carolina. I hope you find what you are looking for on this journey_.

* * *

"So," Grif looked all around clueless as to what their next actions should be. "What do we do now?"

"I have something I want to do first," Tucker chimed in looking towards a nice secluded and clear area. He went to fetch a large rock and carried it with some help from Washington and Donut. They put the rock down in the designated spot and Tucker carved a few letters onto the rock with his sword. Everyone stood behind Tucker to study the words and smiled proudly. Even if he was an enemy, he did do them good in the end. The rock marked the unofficial grave of Locus. The rock read, 'Here is to Locus, one of the bravest and strongest fighters we have ever known. For it was your courage to change and help us that we are still alive and well today. Thank you Locus and may you find peace in death.'

"It's not much, I know," Tucker rubbed the back of his head as he stood back from the rock. Washington shook his head and noted. "I am sure he would be happy to know that he is being honored like this. Knowing that his memory will be preserved will no doubt make him happy."

"Even if he was a scumbag," Sarge attracted a few glares before he finally clarified. "He was an honorable soldier to the end."

"That he was," Donut agreed happy to see the union amongst the group in such a tender moment. Tucker laughed to himself. "I never could really understand him in the end. He was always that type of complicated guy."

"Yeah," Washington lowered his head reminiscing all the times he interacted with the mercenary. "That he was."

They all lowered their head in a moment of silence for the brave and mysterious to the end mercenary. Their hearts heavy with the guilt of leaving him behind still haunted them, but with this they all hoped for his memory to be preserved through their minds. Through this makeshift grave, they will always pay him the respect and remembrance he earned.

* * *

Later that day, the reds and the blues split off into their respective bases. Donut was outside inspecting the garden he had begun to rebuild. He showered the garden patch with heavy amounts of water. _You guys must be famished!_ He thought as the soil absorbed the water very quickly. Sarge sat in his own room recounting his moments of glory on this quest, and equally paying his respect to the dead. He brandished his shotgun in the air. _Yup, this was one hell of an adventure_.

Grif was in his room, and lazing around as everyone expected. As he put it, he was on a date with a can of cheddar cheese and nachos. Where he even got those things in the middle of a canyon was anyone's best guess at this point. Simmons was busy checking the computer's status as well as the data files. After a quick analysis, the files were all intact and security was still good.

Across the canyon and near blue base, Tucker was doing his best to instruct Caboose in the ways of the alien sword. Though his efforts meant nothing in the face of Caboose's childlike excitement, and Tucker had gotten to the near point of exploding from frustration. Caboose was too busy waving his sword around, trying to show off to Sheila and Freckles. Impress his friend and crush so to say, but it would seem Lopez won't let things go that smoothly for him. Caboose would pout at every attempt the Spanish robot made in disrupting his time with Sheila but quickly revert to his happy go lucky attitude.

Washington accessed the files on their computer through the data disk Locus provided. _Such valuable information provided to us intentionally, he was planning on getting us involved all along. It's funny though, if he would have just asked then we might have said yes. I guess he just needed a guarantee_. Washington erased the data from the disk and snapped in half. _I think it's time we close this chapter for good_. Wash walked towards the disposal bin and with clarity he threw the pieces inside it. _Rest in peace Locus, and to all those who died in our struggle, rest in peace_.

Atop red base, Simmons and Grif stood together looking out into the plain fields. Simmons turned towards Grif. "Hey."

"Yeah?" asked the orange soldier. He had an idea of what Simmons was going to say, but he could only hope for a different conversation. "Do you ever wonder w-"

"Okay, I am going to stop you right there," Grif drew his pistol. "If you finish that sentence, I swear to god I will shoot us both in the head right now."

"That's a little extreme don't you think?"

They looked towards the new voice joining the conversation. It was Tucker. He waved up hoping to have a few words with them. "So I have a little favor to ask. Do you think you can keep Caboose for the night? Oh and I _promise_ he won't break anything with his sword, nothing of that sort."

"Gosh Tucker, you make such a sound argument, how could I say no?" Grif holstered his pistol and waved his hands around. Tucker tilted his head to the side in surprise. "Really?"

"No," Grif shook his head in annoyance. "That was sarcasm Tucker."

"Man, you guys suck!" Tucker muttered something else under his breath as he walked away greatly dissatisfied. Simmons shouted back with good intentions. "Good luck with Caboose!"

But instead he only received a middle finger as a response. Simmons turned back to look at Grif, and then onto the fields. He reached inside his own pocket and gripped the mobile phone. _We all made it Elsie, Walters, Ben and Edwards. We are all still alive, and it is thanks to you all. I will never forget you, and neither will I forget what I have learned from my experiences from this journey. I will never give into my hate ever again. For the sake of your memory and my sanity, I make that promise to you all_.

In the caves, Doc sat at the very end with O'Malley busy planning in his head. "I shall now begin my conquest to take over this canyon first, and then the world again!"

"Ah, why not focus on making friends O'Malley?" Doc stretched his neck and heard several satisfying cracks.

"Can I explode them into little particles of blood?"

"No!"

"Then I am not interested."

Doc let out a tired sigh as he stood up and stretched his back. _I should go down to see how the garden is doing. Maybe I can finally suggest that new vegetable I have been reading about so much lately_. He exited the cool cave to meet the welcomed heat of the sun. He stretched his arms, swung them back and forth. Doc walked out towards the canyon and looked at the two bases from the hill.

"Yes, all of this will be mine!" O'Malley exclaimed only to be pushed back mentally. "No, all of this is good as it is, home sweet home."

* * *

In the space region occupied by the 'Rise of Justice' space colony, several more UNSC ships warped in. A great many UNSC pelicans and rescue pods ejected from the space station carrying the station's civilian population onboard. Some also carried the New Order soldiers as prisoners of war to be judged accordingly. The last pelican departing from the station radioed into the main UNSC ship leading the fleet. "That's the last of them sir, all are accounted for according to the colony's database. The sweep team has also gotten everything that they needed from the station."

"Good work," the Captain replied looking towards his weapons officer. "Give the order."

"Give them hell sir," the pilot cut the line before taking off and flying away. Outside on the surface of the station were several explosives and jets. The weapons officer activated the remote explosions and tore the colony up into smaller pieces. The jets activated and drifted the pieces away from one another. The Captain looked at the colony pieces flying like an exploding asteroid and stopped the pieces in their tracks. He motioned for the fleet to prepare their weaponry. "It's time we end this legacy of hate they have built up once and for all."

The ships prepared to fire several missiles. The Captain raised his hand higher. "On my mark!"

This was the end. The legacy Equal worked hard to create was now coming to its own destruction. A legacy of hate was not one that would be tolerated so easily amongst the space pioneers and the UNSC military. _May there be someone to still remember those who worked hard for their beliefs here_. The Captain paid his last respects to a worthy foe and swung down his arm. "Fire!"

The missiles all shot off in an accurately calculated path. Slowly they progressed to their targets. The Captain watched with great concentration. One of his officers approached from his left. "Sir, what about those on the planet?"

"They will be rescued eventually," the Captain nodded his head in strong belief in their rescue efforts. "Once we know how to get past those dangerous clouds created by the New Order, we will go in for the rescue. No human left behind after all, right?"

"Yes sir," the officer nodded his head with a grateful smile. The missiles finally made contact creating a display of fireworks and debris. "Contact!"

Everyone cheered and all that Equal had worked so hard for finally came to a full circle of destruction. His legacy of hate and revenge now ended.

~ Fin ~ The New Order Trilogy

* * *

 **A/N: That is it, it is done. After quite a few months of working within the Red vs. Blue category, it certainly has made me come to have a greater appreciation for the show itself. What started as dissatisfaction with the official Season 14 grew to three fanfics that I am glad to have written and shared. Not to mention, since I don't write comedy or action as often, it definitely challenged me. I am sure that from my poor attempts at comedy, many of you may have been able to deduce that :).**

 **What did you think of how things played out in the end?**

 **What did you feel about the ending to the trilogy?**

 **For those paying close attention, you may have noticed that I did leave an open story thread for another fanfic in here (a potential expansion). I do have an idea of what I would want to do with it (Carolina's journey). I really loved writing the bits about when Simmons and Carolina interacted with Elsie and Edwards. It was more or less, slice of life material (everyday adventures) imbued with character development that I hope came across well (or well enough at the very least).**

 **So if I ever do write a "Red vs. Blue Season 17", it will no doubt be more or less a slice of life piece. It will still have some action and attempts at comedy but mostly focusing on Carolina's growth as a character. I will probably add other unlikely characters to that as well such as Donut for example. But that will all depend on how serious and dark I make the themes be. Simmons worked really well for this but same may not be true for Donut (in my opinion).**

 **Anyways, before I ramble on anymore. Did you enjoy this trilogy as a package?**

 **For now, I am going to go back to fictionpress and work on my fiction stories there. If you are interested in checking out my work there, I am under the same pen name of "Monty Mason". Drop me a line if you visit :).**

 **As always, thank you for sticking with this through to the end. Thank you for your support and kind readership.**

 **Catch you all some other time. Hope you all have a great day! :D**

 **~ Monty Mason**


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